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SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS 

Published in conjunction with 
THE SCHOOL REVIEW and THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JOURNAL 

Vol. HI July 1921 

No. 4 Whole No. 1 6 



A HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL 

LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI 

FROM 1798 TO 1860 






Copyright iq2i By 
The University of Chicago 



All Rights Reserved 



Published July 1921 



FEB 27 1922 



©CU653958 



/>\«P r 



PREFACE 

In histories of education in the United States the southwest for the 
most part has been ignored. The historian sometimes has ascertained 
a few facts as to the educational history of Virginia and the Carolinas 
and has generahzed from these for his statements as to the history of 
education in the southern states. The question may well be raised 
whether the educational history of Virginia and North Carolina appHes 
to the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana with 
any greater degree of accuracy than the stories of the historical develop- 
ment of New England and New York apply to the states of Ohio, 
Illinois, and Indiana. In the hope that he might supply some definite 
data toward the answer of this question, the author has undertaken 
this study of educational legislation in Mississippi prior to the Civil War. 

The writer wishes to acknowledge his obligations to Dr. M. W. 
Jernegan for his critical reading of the manuscript and helpful sugges- 
tions, to Mr. F.W. Schenk, of the law library of the University of Chicago, 
to Dr. Dunbar Rowland, director of the Department of Archives and 
History of Mississippi, to Mrs. W. F. Marshall, state librarian of Missis- 
sippi, and her assistant, Mrs. H. F. Broyles, for facilitating access to 
source material. 



INTRODUCTION 

This volume is the third of the monographs on the history of educa- 
tional legislation of various states. The plan and purpose of these 
studies are set forth in the general introductions to be found in the 
first and second volumes of this series, entitled respectively, " Educational 
Legislation and Administration in the State of New York from 1777 
to 1850" and "The History of Educational Legislation in Ohio from 
1803 to 1850." A comparison of the educational legislation of the 
three states in question well illustrates the wide variation in the origin 
and development of our state educational systems, and helps in under- 
standing the problems involved in the development of a national system 
of education. 

The history of the educational legislation of Mississippi is of peculiar 
interest for several reasons. Being one of the states of the New South, 
this legislation was influenced by two important factors, absent in the 
states of the Old South: first, the original settlers came principally 
from the back-country regions of the South Atlantic states, and secondly, 
they entered an environment which approached that of the New West, 
the region west of the Alleghanies. Both of these factors led to the 
development of a democratic, decentralized school system, designed to 
meet the special needs or demands of individual counties and even 
smaller units. As a result, we may observe the consequences of local 
self-government in education at the expense of an efficient centralized 
state system, based on general laws operative over the entire state. 

Dr. Weathersby has set forth, for the first time, the entire legislation 
of Mississippi from 1798 to i860, and discussed the larger factors which 
account for this legislation. He has given a clear account of the relation 
of the national and state governments to elementary, secondary, and 
higher education. We call special attention to chapters iv, v, and xi. 
In the first we have a previously unwritten chapter on the method of 
handling the famous sixteenth section of land, granted by the national 
government for the support of public education. This may be compared 
with the methods adopted by Ohio. In chapter v, dealing with the 
numerous county systems set up between 1846 and i860, there is oppor- 
tunity to study interesting examples of experimentation in the adminis- 
tration and support of public schools. In chapter xi we may study the 



viii INTRODUCTION 

efforts of a southern and western state to develop the principle of state 
support, or aid, to education. Dr. Weathersby has also provided in 
Appendixes A and B invaluable material for studies involving a history 
of comparative educational legislation of the various states. 

Marcus W. Jernegan 

UNrVERSITY OF CHICAGO 

April 15, 1920 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PACE 

I. Influences Affecting Educational Legislation in Mississippi i 
Pre-territorial history negligible. Sparseness of population. 
Homogeneous white race. Ideals and customs of immigrants. 
Occupations and manner of life. Inequality in the distribution of 
wealth. Inadequate means of communication and travel. Western 
idea of supremacy of the local community. Progressive public 
leaders. Influence of the federal land grants. Prosperity of the 
state. Favorable situation for the academies. A hindrance to 
higher education. 

II. The General Tendencies and Characteristics of Educa- 
tional Legislation in Mississippi before i860 . . . 13 

Five important characteristics of the common school legisla- 
tion. The attempted change in school policy in 1846 and its 
general results. Private initiative in secondary education. The 
modification of this policy in higher education. Education of 
special classes. 

III. Educational Beginnings; Legislation of the Territorial 

Period 17 

Inactivity of the judges. Beginning of higher education — 
Jefferson College. Beginnings in secondary education. The 
incorporation of academies. Beginnings in elementary education. 
The private schools. The sixteenth sections. 

IV. Elementary Education from 181 7 to 1846. The Sixteenth 

Sections and the Township Schools 26 

Admission to the Union. Constitutional provision on educa- 
tion. Schools under the county judges. The Literary Fund. 
Provision for control of schools and school lands under the Literary 
Fund act. Change to system of township control in 1824. Leas- 
ing the sixteenth sections. Loss of the sbcteenth section funds. 
Loss of the Literary Fund. Attempt to secure new school lands. 
Curriculum of the township schools. Characteristics of the period. 

V. Elementary Education from 1846 to i860. The First School 

System and the jNIultiplication of "Systems" ... 41 

Agitation for a free school system. Governor Brown's recom- 
mendations. The adoption of a school system. Analysis of the 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

act of 1846. Failure of the act. Attempt to amend the act in 
1848. Diversity of sentiment. The multiplication of "systems." 
General characteristics of the special acts. Legislation for indi- 
vidual townships. Causes of the dissolution of the common 
school system. The Chickasaw counties. Schools for munici- 
palities. Common school status at the end of the period. 

VI. Secondary Education from 181 7 to i860. The Mississippi 

Academies 62 

Incorporation of academies. List of chartered secondary 
schools. Distribution of secondary schools by historical sections 
of the state. Analysis of charters. Influence of religious denomi- 
nations. Secondary schools for girls. Supervision of academies. 
Curricula. Status of secondary education in 1850. 

VII. Higher Education in Mississippi from 181 7 to i860 . . . 79 
The federal land grant for a "seminary of learning." Sale of 
the Seminary Lands. The Seminary Fund. Jefiferson College. 
Mississippi College. The University of Mississippi. The Missis- 
sippi State Female College. Incorporation of private and denomi- 
national colleges. List of higher institutions that received 
charters. Denominational and fraternal influence. State influ- 
ence on higher education. 

VIII. Educational Legislation for Special Classes and for 

Special Purposes 95 

Education of orphans. Apprenticeships. Orphans' homes. 
Manual Labor School. Vocational education. Military training. 
The education of defectives. Institution for the blind. Institu- 
tion for the deaf and dumb. 

IX. Supplementary Educational Agencies 105 

Libraries. The Mississippi State Library. Incorporation of 
library societies. Societies for the education of youths. Mis- 
cellaneous organizations. 

X. The Administration and Supervision of Schools and the Cer- 
tification of Teachers 109 

Laws relative to school control and supervision. Provision of 
the Literary Fund act. The authority of the township trustees. 
Provisions of the act of 1846. The general school commissioner. 
Various policies of the several counties after 1848. Laws rela- 
tive to the certification of teachers. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xi 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XI. Federal AND State Am TO Education 115 

Federal land grants. Means of support for common schools: 

(1) Common school funds: (i) Sixteenth Section Fund; (2) Chicka- 
saw Fund; (3) Literary Fund; (4) County Common School 
Funds. (II) Taxation for common schools: (i) Indirect taxation; 

(2) Direct taxation. (Ill) Appropriations from the general fund 
in the state treasury. State aid for secondary schools: (i) 
Lotteries; (2) Exemptions; (3) Appropriations; (4) Indirect 
taxes; (5) Sixteenth section and common school funds. Support 
of higher education. 

Appendix a. Abstract of Charters of Secondary Schools and 

Higher Institutions 129 

Appendix b. Complete Index to Educational Legislation in 

Mississippi from 1802 to i860, by Titles of Acts . 162 

Bibliography 197 

Index 201 



CHAPTER I 

INFLUENCES AFFECTING EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN 

MISSISSIPPI 

The colonial history of Mississippi left very little impress upon the 
later life of the territory and state. For all practical purposes history 
began in Mississippi only a few years before the representatives of the 
thirteen eastern colonies were signing the Declaration of Independence. 

The country was explored by Hernando De Soto as early as 1540, 
and the Spanish adventurers spent about a year within the present 
borders of the state.' The French in 1699 planted the first colony on 
the Bay of Biloxi, and about twenty years later settled three hundred 
colonists at Fort Rosalie, now Natchez, on the Mississippi River. But 
the latter settlement was surprised and massacred by the Natchez 
Indians in 1729, and thereafter Fort Rosalie, under the French, was 
merely a miUtary post.^ The French settlements on the gulf shore of 
Mississippi were little more than trade stations with scanty populations 
and never extended more than a few miles from the sea. 

When Mississippi in 1763 became a part of the British province of 
West Florida, many of the French settlers removed to Louisiana. In 
the Natchez district, which was later to become the nucleus of Mississippi 
Territory, there was probably not a white settler. The first permanent 
settlement was made in this section in 1770, when eighteen families of 
immigrants located in and around the site of the present city of Natchez.^ 
These were the first of a stream of immigrants who began to pour in 
from the older colonies to the new British possession. Many of them 
were loyalists, who sought to escape the embarrassment that was likely 
to ensue from the brewing trouble between the older thirteen colonies 
and the mother country. In 1772 three hundred persons from Virginia 
and the Carolinas were settled along the Mississippi, and three or 
four hundred families were expected before the end of the summer.'' 
These expectations probably were not fully realized, but several settle- 
ments were made at various points along the river front. By 1777, 

' Riley, School History of Mississippi, p. 23. 

'Hamilton, "British West Florida," Publication of the Mississippi Historical 
Society, VII, 399-426. 

3 Ibid. 4 Ibid., p. 419. 



2 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

however, Natchez contained only ten log cabins and two frame houses, 
and we are told that the surrounding settlements numbered not more 
than seventy-eight famiHes/ 

All of the settlers in the Natchez district during the seventies were 
of Enghsh, Scotch, or Irish extraction, and practically all were from the 
colonies along the Atlantic. They brought with them British customs 
and institutions, more or less modified by their residence in the eastern 
colonies. By this time nothing recalled the previous French and 
Spanish explorations and attempts at colonization except an occasional 
name.^ The settlers instituted their own local government, for they 
were too far from Pensacola, the seat of British colonial authority, to 
keep in close touch with that government. Apparently the Pensacola 
authorities gave little attention to these western settlements, but we 
are informed that the people were well capable of handUng their own 
affairs and that good order prevailed.^ 

When the Spanish conquered British West Florida in 1779 and 
1780, the people of the Natchez district submitted to the conquerors, 
but were still loyal to Britain. In 1781 they revolted, captured the 
Spanish garrison, raised the British flag, and awaited the expected 
assistance from the mother country. The revolt was quickly put down, 
and many of the settlers, fearing punishment from the Spaniards, fled 
from the country to the struggling thirteen states. The Spanish, how- 
ever, accorded liberal treatment to those who remained, and especially 
favored the Irish settlers, who were Catholics.'' 

Very little Spanish immigration drifted into the Natchez district 
during the Spanish regime, and most that came seemed to be congre- 
gated in that portion of Natchez called "Spanish town."^ The total 
population of the district, according to a census taken by the Spanish 
in 1780, was only 2,679.* Toward the close of the Spanish period there 
was considerable immigration from Kentucky and Tennessee — American 
settlers, who came in anticipation of the surrender of the district to the 
United States. When, in 1798, the Spanish reluctantly gave way to 
American authority and the Mississippi Territory was organized, the 
total population could not have been much more than 5,000, mcluding 
slaves. Two years later, when the first United States census was taken, 

' Hamilton, o/*. «7., p. 420. ^ Ibid., p. 42^- ^ Ibid., p. 4ig. 

* Monette, History of the Mississippi Valley, 1, 468. 

5 Claiborne, Mississippi as a Province, Territory, and State, I, 527. 

' Monette, op. cit., p. 478. 



INFLUENCES AFFECTING LEGISLATION 3 

there were in the Natchez district 4,446 whites, 2,995 slaves, and 159 
free colored persons/ 

Mississippi Territory as originally organized was a long narrow 
strip between the thirty-first parallel of latitude and the line drawn due 
east from the mouth of the Yazoo River, extending from the Mississippi 
River on the west to the Chattahoochee River on the east. It included 
the southern portion of the present states of Mississippi and Alabama, 
but excluded the coastal regions of both. The territory was divided 
into three counties — Adams, Pickering, and Washington — but only the 
first two had white settlements within the present state of Mississippi. 
Washington County, or the "Washington district" as it was frequently 
called, was for the most part in the possession of the Choctaw nation. 
The few white settlements were within the present limits of Alabama 
along the banks of the Tombigbee River.^ 

We have in a brief way traced the history of the Natchez country 
down to the beginning of the period we shall attempt to study. We 
have seen that the country was an uninhabited wilderness until within 
a few years of the organization of the territory, and that two years 
after the territorial government was set up the total population, includ- 
ing slaves, was only seven thousand. With these facts before us we 
need not be surprised that nothing had been accomplished toward 
public education before the Spanish surrendered the country. If there 
were any schools, they were private institutions or under the control of 
the Catholic church, and no records of them have been available. As 
influences affecting the educational legislation in Mississippi, the French 
and Spanish are negligible. 

It shall be our jjurpose in the succeeding paragraphs to discover 
some of the positive factors that have affected the educational history 
of Mississippi and that may help us to understand the facts revealed in 
the succeeding chapters. 

Perhaps the most serious obstacle that confronted the people of 
Mississippi throughout the entire period that we shall study was the 
sparseness of population. When Governor Claiborne in 1802 made his 
recommendation for a "system of pubhc education" and a "seminary 
of learning," he was addressing the representatives of a citizenship that 
in numbers would not make now a respectable rural county. By 18 10 
the population of the western half of the territory (the portion that was 

'Rowland, The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, 191 7, 
pp. 719-21. 

" See map of Mississippi Territory in 1802 on p. iS. 



4 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

to become the state of Mississippi in 1817) had increased to 31,306, of 
whom nearly one-half were slaves. Ten years later the United States 
census showed a population of 75,448. 

Notwithstanding the increase of nearly 150 per cent in the popula- 
tion between 1810 and 1820, the significant fact confronts us that there 
was no increase in the density of population. The increase is accounted 
for in small part by the Florida annexation of 181 2, and more largely 
by immigration into new territory opened to settlers by treaties with 
the Indians. While the population of the territory increased nearly 
150 per cent, Adams, the oldest and most densely settled county, showed 
an increase of only 20 per cent, and this small increase was wholly in 
slave population. There was an actual decrease of 250 in the white 
population of the county, and there was no decrease in the area of the 
county during the decade.^ 

If we study the census figures for the next decade we find that the 
same thing took place. The white population increased from 42,176 to 
70,443. During the decade the central portion of the state, which was 
ceded to the United States by the Choctaws in 1820, was opened to white 
settlers. Into the new counties made from this cession went 23,266 
white people out of the total increase of 28,266, leaving a gain of only 
4,945 for all the older counties of the state. 

Again in the next decade we find the same phenomenon for the 
third time. The population of the state showed a rapid increase between 
1830 and 1840, rising to 179,074 whites. But again the increase went 
into territory newly opened and did not bring about an increase in 
density of population. The Choctaws in 1830 ceded what was left of 
their country to the federal government, and in 1832 the Chickasaws, 
also, gave up their lands. The two nations were removed to Indian 
Territory, thus opening the entire state of Mississippi to white settlers. 
A great tide of immigration flowed into the state. Nineteen new counties 
were created out of the Choctaw purchase, and ten from the Chickasaw 
purchase. In 1840 the white population of these twenty-nine new 
counties was 94,625, representing all but 4,449 of the 109,000 increase 
during the ten years. 

It is apparent that the growth in population in Mississippi from 18 10 
to 1840 is wholly explained by the occupation of new lands, and that 

^The figures in this and the succeeding paragraphs are from "Statistics for 
Mississippi," prepared especially by the United States Census Bureau for the Missis- 
sippi Department of Archives and History, and are to be found in convenient form in 
The Official a)td Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, 1917, pp. 719-24. 




Indian Cession IMap of Mississippi 
A— The Old Natchez District. D— Chickasaw Cession of 1816. 

B— First Choctaw Cession, 1805. E— Second Choctaw Cession, 1820. 

C— Florida Annexation, 181 2. F— Third Choctaw Cession, 1830. 

G — Chickasaw Cession of 1832. 



6 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

SO far as white population is concerned, the state was as thinly settled 
in 1840 as it was in 1810.' The apparent increase in density of popula- 
tion in the older counties, when the aggregate census figures are taken, 
is due to the rapid increase in the number of slaves, which had no more 
bearing upon the educational situation than the increase in live stock 
or any other form of property. 

The full meaning of the sparseness of white population in Mississippi 
is brought out when we consider the density of population to the square 
mile and compare the figures with those for other states. In 1840 
there were in Mississippi only 3.82 white persons to the square mile. 
There was a considerable increase in density during the two decades 
immediately following, but in i860 there were only 8. 19 persons to the 
mile. A comparison of these figures with the density of population in 
other new states of the west is given in Table I. These figures make it 



TABLE I 
A Comparison of Density of White Popiilation in Certain Western States 



State 


1840 


1830 


i860 


Ohio 


38.08 
20.07 

8.52 
3-82 


49-55 
29.24 

15-37 
6.32 


58.54 

39-94 

30.89 

8.19 


Indiana 


Illinois 


Mississippi 





evident that Mississippi had to deal with a factor that most seriously 
hindered her educational development. 

The study of the population of Mississippi brings to our attention 
one fact that to some extent lessened the retarding effect of the sparse- 
ness of the population. In so far as racial origin is concerned, the 
people of Mississippi were from early territorial days a homogeneous 
group. After the organization of Mississippi Territory the Spanish 
and other foreign elements, which were concentrated chiefly in Natchez, 
rapidly disappeared.^ Perhaps the most noteworthy instance of trans- 
planting old country ideals and customs into the new American territory 
is found in a small Scotch settlement in Wayne County. This com- 
munity used the Gaelic language in their daily speech and in their 

' Tlie gradual extension of white settlements from the Natchez district over the 
entire area of the present state is indicated in the Indian Cession Map on p. 3, 
which is adapted from Riley's School History of Mississippi, p. 150. 

^ Claiborne, op. ciL, p. 530. 



INFLUENCES AFFECTING LEGISLATION 7 

school from its foundation in 1812 to 1820,' These Scotch-Americans, 
however, in their manner of Hfe and social ideals were not antagonistic 
to American principles. As the number of English-speaking people 
around them increased they abandoned their dialect, mingled with 
the other settlers, and became the founders of the sturdy families 
of the McRaes, McArthurs, McDougalds, McLaughlins, McDaniels, 
McDonalds, and McLaurins. 

The advantage that homogeneity of population brought to Missis- 
sippi was perhaps entirely counteracted by the educational ideals and 
customs that they brought with them. There was a sprinkling of 
settlers from the North and East, but the great bulk of immigration 
came from the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee.^ They had 
no acquaintance with public elementary schools, nor did they conceive 
public education to be a duty of the state. They were imbued with the 
ideals and customs of the Old South, and they brought these ideals and 
customs along with their families and slaves to the new Southwest. 
They did believe in education, but they conceived of that as a duty of 
the parent to his child. To be sure, if the parents were dead or too 
poor to educate the child, then, they thought, it was the duty of the 
state to stand in loco parentis. 

The great obstacle to the development of a system of education 
found in the sparseness of the population was augmented by the manner 
of life and the occupations of the people. Except for the very early 
attempts to cultivate tobacco and indigo, the chief industry of Missis- 
sippi as a territory and as a state has been the production of cotton. 
It is not necessary to describe here in detail the cotton plantations with 
the one "big house" of the master, the group of cabins occupied by the 
slaves, the broad acres of cultivated land, encircled by virgin forests, 
which shut off the plantation from the outside world and made it a 
little state of its own. The difficulty of placing schools so that they 
could serve the big plantations scattered along the creeks and rivers is 
apparent without comment. 

In the southeastern counties, which did not produce much cotton, 
the situation was even less favorable. The inhabitants of these counties 
during the territorial period and early years of statehood were engaged 
chiefly in raising cattle, which lived on the "cane brakes" and coarse 
grass along the creeks. With stock-raising they combined the pursuit 

'Wilkins, "Early Times in Wayne County," Publication of the Mississippi His- 
torical Society, VI, 265-72. 

^ Census of the United States, The Eighth: i860, volume on "Population," p. 272. 



8 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

of hunting/ These counties throughout the period covered by this 
study were even more thinly settled than the others, had less wealth, 
and, apparently, less interest in educational matters. 

The differences in occupation and in wealth of different sections was 
another retarding factor in the educational situation of the state. The 
"piny woods" counties of the southeast were next to the Natchez dis- 
trict in the order of settlement, but, on account of poverty of soil, they 
lagged considerably behind the other counties of the state in wealth and 
population. Furthermore until about 1840 there was always a frontier 
in Mississippi — a new country to be opened up and settled. Naturally, 
there was a considerable difference between the wealth of the new 
section and that of the old, the greater wealth being concentrated more 
or less in the older section of the state. This difference in wealth is 
reflected rather clearly in the ownership of slaves, for the entire state 
was almost exclusively agricultural. For instance in 1830, ten years 
from the date of the second Choctaw cession, the counties formed from 
this territory had acquired a population of 23,266, but had only 12,000 
slaves. During the same decade the older counties, while they increased 
less than 5,000 in white population, added to their wealth by increasing 
the number of their slaves from 32,814 to 53,665. A decade later we 
find twenty-nine new counties formed from the Indian cessions of 1830 
and 1832 with a population of about 95,000 owning less than 59,000 
slaves, while the older counties with a white population of 84,000 own 
136,000 slaves.^ That this difference of wealth persisted throughout our 
period is indicated by the figures in Table II. The table gives the white 
and slave population and the value of the manufactured products of 
three groups of counties in 1850. The first group is representative of 
the older cotton-producing counties; the second group of the new 
counties of northeast Mississippi; and the third group, of the "piny 
woods" or "white counties" of the southeastern part of the state. 

There was a manifest tendency in these different sections of the 
state to assume different positions toward school matters. This ten- 
dency was due in part to the lack of easy means of communication 
between the different parts of the state. There were few highways in 
the state and few navigable rivers aside from the Mississippi. Before 
the coming of the railroads, travel was hmited chiefly to the stage- 
coach and private horse-drawn vehicles. The early roads were little 
more than trails made by felling the forest trees to enable teams to 
pass through. 

' Riley, op. cil., p. 133. ^ Rowland, op. cit., 1917, pp. 719, 721. 



INFLUENCES AFFECTING LEGISLATION 9 

In the preceding paragraphs the people of Mississippi have been 
pictured as typical southerners. In a sense they were, but there seems 
to have been one point of view or ideal which was acquired largely 
after they reached their new homes, and which seems to distinguish 
them from kinsmen and friends left behind in the Southern Atlantic 
states. This was the distinctly western idea of the supremacy of the 

TABLE II* 
Population, Slaves, and Manufactures in Fifteen Counties in 1850 



Counties 



Whites 



Slaves 



Value of Manu- 
factured 
Products 



Old cotton counties: 

Adams 

Jefferson 

Claiborne 

Wilkinson 

Warren 

Total 

New counties of the northeast: 

Tippah 

Tishomingo 

Pontotoc 

Lafayette 

Itawamba 

Total 

"Piny woods" {southeastern Mississippi 

Covington 

Jones 

Marion 

Perry 

Greene 

Total 



3,948 
2,634 
3,449 
3,624 
5,996 



19,651 



15,807 
13,528 
12,136 
8,346 
11,395 



61,212 



2,222 
1,887 
2,215 
1,679 

1,379 



9,382 



14,395 
10,493 
11,450 
13,260 
12,096 



61,694 



4,928 
1,961 
4,968 
5,378 
2,127 



19,362 



1,114 

274 

2,195 

749 

638 



4,970 



$ 207,850 

46,910 

66,919 

36,600 

280,550 



$638,829 



$ 85,497 
67,250 
61,205 

125,365 
34,090 



$373,407 



11,137 



5,500 



$ 16,637 



* The figures were compiled for The Official and 
by the United States Census Bureau. See pp. 719-2 



Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi of 191 7 

2, 734-35- 



local community in government. It was that idea of democracy that 
meant the reservation to local bodies of all power that could possibly 
be exercised by them. This ideal is ever3Awhere evident in the legisla- 
tion on school matters. It manifests itself in the vast amount of per- 
missive legislation which left the final decision on educational questions 
to local communities. Township control of schools was preferred to 
county control. A great deal of the educational legislation is special 
legislation for individual townships, which evidently was initiated by 



lO EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

the people, and often a provision for a referendum vote is contained in 
the acts. 

It is clear that the development of any general system of pubHcly 
supported common schools, if it should be accompHshed in Mississippi, 
must overcome numerous serious obstacles. There were from early 
territorial times, however, two important factors in the situation that 
were favorable to the establishment of common schools. One of these 
factors was the presence in Mississippi at all times of public leaders 
who were strongly in favor of a publicly supported system of schools. 
Scarcely had the new territorial government been organized before 
these people were memorializing Congress in the interest of education. 
On February 2, 1798, John Henderson and other citizens signed the 
first memorial of this kind, praying for aid from the general govern- 
ment to establish and support a regular ministry of the gospel and 
schools for the education of the youth.' Most of the messages of the 
state and territorial governors from 1802 until the state was on the 
threshold of the Civil War contained recommendations for the improve- 
ment of the schools. Time and again these messages contained recom- 
mendations for a state tax for the support of common schools, and at 
least one governor made this question an issue in his successful campaign 
for his office.^ 

The other most influential factor favorable to the public schools 
was the decision of the federal government to extend its policy of grant- 
ing public lands for the endowment of education to "the territory south 
of the state of Tennessee." The sixteenth section of each township 
was reserved for school purposes. By the time Mississippi had become 
a state many of these sections had attained a value that enabled the 
townships to build and partly support one or more common schools. 
In at least one township of the state a free school has been maintained 
constantly since 182 1 chiefly by funds derived from its sixteenth sec- 
tion.3 In most cases, however, the proceeds from school lands were 
not sufficient to maintain a school, but they encouraged the idea of 
township schools, partly, if not wholly, supported by public funds. 

After 1840 there was a distinct improvement in the school situation 
in the state. By this time the whole state had been settled and the 
new counties were as thickly populated as the old counties, and some 
of them more so. There was no longer a frontier in the state. The 

' Claiborne, op. cit., I, 202. 

Cluskey, Speeches, Messages, and Other Writings of A. G. Brown, p. 54. 
3 Riley, op. cit., p. 174. 



INFLUENCES AFFECTING LEGISLATION 1 1 

density of the white population, as has been shown, increased between 
1840 and i860 from 3.82 to 8. 19 to the square mile. The building of 
railroads and improvement of navigable streams provided better means 
of communication and travel, and thus brought the different sections 
of the state into closer contact. Small towns and hamlets sprung up 
along the railroads and at county seats, each with its common school, 
which was frequently the "primary department" of a town academy. 
Township and county funds were always desired and frequently obtain- 
able to sustain or partly sustain these "primary departments," leaving 
usually small tuition rates to be paid by the parents to supplement the 
public funds. In these towns and villages the idea of pubUc free schools 
found a favorable situation and made good headway. 

Another favorable factor for the development of schools during the 
last two decades preceding the Civil War was the almost unbroken 
prosperity of the period. The panic of 1837 and financial distress that 
followed was a severe blow to the state, but the recovery was rapid. 
And this need not be surprising in view of Governor McNutt's state- 
ment in his inaugural address in 1838 that the annual exports of the 
sparsely populated state were one-sixth of those of the entire nation.^ 
Land values recovered from the blow of 1837 and gradually increased. 
The cotton crops of the state were abundant and usually brought fair 
prices. Year by year the size of the crop was increased and the number 
of slaves increased proportionately. The popular slogan seemed to be, 
"Make more cotton to get more money to buy more negroes to make 
more cotton," ad infinitum.'' The general prosperity of these ante- 
bellum days is reflected in the messages of the governors of the period. 
In 1850 Governor Matthews commented on the prosperous condition 
of the state and used it as a basis for his argiunent for a system of com- 
mon schools supported by a state tax.'' Similarly, Governor McRae in 
1858 said, "The growing wealth and increasing population of our 
state .... induces me to suggest to the Legislature the propriety of 
providing by law for the appointment of a State Superintendent of 
PubHc Instruction," etc* 

The situation in Mississippi during our period of study, as it has 
been set forth in these pages, was evidently more favorable for the 
growth of private academies and higher institutions of learning than 
for the development of a system of free elementary schools. As we 
shall see in a later chapter, the secondary schools were comparatively 

' Ihid., p. 240. 3 Senate Journal, 1850, pp. 20-21. 

' Ihid., pp. 238-39. 4 Ibid., 1858, p. 23. 



12 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

numerous, liberally supported, and, during seasons of prosperity, 
flourished vigorously in the state. The chief hindrance to these schools 
seems to have been the difficulty of securing competent teachers. There 
was so much more money to be made in farming than in teaching that 
it was practically impossible to obtain native teachers. Those imported 
were frequently not the best that the older states had, and sometimes 
were utterly incompetent and morally unfit. ^ There were, however, a 
great many excellent teachers who came from other sections and founded 
schools that were great forces in the upbuilding of the state, but there 
was difiiculty in keeping the men who came into the state from aban- 
doning their profession for more lucrative employment. An interesting 
letter written by Rev. Morey of Mount Sylvan Academy in 1847 throws 
a side-light on this phase of the school situation. Writing to friends in 
the north concerning the prospects for northern teachers in Mississippi, 
he said: 

Come determined to teach, not to speculate or marry; our places for 
golden investment are all occupied and our heiresses all engaged. Not to 
farm it or to preach; we know how to raise cotton better than you could, 
and we have a fair supply of preachers. Not to become politicians or lecturers 
on phrenology; the science of government is wonderfully well known here, 
and phrenology is not popular. In short, we need teachers, not peddlers, nor 
doctors, nor lawyers, nor Hterary pretenders.^ 

With reference to higher education there was also a hindering factor 
in the tendency of parents to send their boys out of the state for their 
education. This was due in many cases to the attachment which the 
parents felt for schools in the states from which they came and some- 
times to the greater prestige of the colleges of the older states. As a 
consequence, Jefferson College, the several denominational colleges, 
and, later, the state university did not receive the support that they 
merited. The private colleges and seminaries for girls, however, were 
more freely patronized, and these became very numerous. 

' "Report of State School Commissioner," Senate Journal, 1850, p. 154. 

^ Mayo, "The American Common School in the Southern States, during the 
First Half of the Republic, 1 790-1840," Report oj the United States Commission of 
Education, iSg§-g6, p. 307. 



CHAPTER II 

THE GENERAL TENDENCIES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF EDUCA- 
TIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI BEFORE 1860 

COMMON SCHOOLS 

There are five outstanding characteristics to be observed in the 
legislation of Mississippi relative to common schools prior to the Civil 
War. These may be briefly stated as follows: 

First, the development of township common schools, built usually 
upon the sixteenth sections, with funds secured from the rents from 
these sections or income from the fund derived from the school sections 
and often partially supported from the same source. Usually there 
was only one school to the township.^ 

Second, the tendency to make the township the unit for control of 
schools. From 1824 to 1846 this was the universal policy throughout 
the state. The township trustees, elected by the resident heads of 
famines of the township, were given almost complete freedom in the 
management of the sixteenth sections, the disposition of the income 
therefrom, and the control of schools, supported or partially supported 
therefrom. The most noteworthy characteristic of the great mass of 
legislation relative to the school lands and township schools was its 
permissive character. Trustees were continually given authority to do 
this or that, but there is practically no compulsion.^ The attempt in 
1846 to make the county the unit in school control aroused a great deal 
of opposition, which finally resulted in a division of the state between 
the two plans. The greater part of the state, apparently, returned to 
the system of township control.^ 

Third, a general absence of central control of the local educational 
activities — closely correlated with the tendency to magnify the small 
units in the management of schools. An act of 182 1 attempted to set 
up a central state board with certain administrative duties and to 
provide for the supervision of schools by county officials, but the duties 
of the state board after 1824 were limited to the education of the poor 

' See detailed discussion in chap, iv, pp. 29-36. 

= Ibid. 

3 See Tables X, XI, and XII in chap. x. 

13 



14 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

children, and the supervisory functions of its appointees in the several 
counties were nullified by the lack of authority to enforce any recom- 
mendations they might choose to make. The duties of the state school 
commissioner, an office created in 1846 and filled by the secretary of 
state, were wholly clerical and advisory/ 

Fourth, the education of orphans and poor children at the expense of 
the state. From 182 1 until 1839 the state provided for the payment 
of the tuition and the purchase of books and other school necessities 
for orphan children through the Literary Fund.^ For a few years this 
responsibility was thrown upon the townships. After 1848 state laws 
provided that those counties that did not maintain free schools should 
provide free tuition for poor children and orphans from certain revenue 
appropriated by the state to the county school funds.^ 

Fifth, a general reluctance to impose direct taxation for common 
schools. Indirect taxation through the appropriation of escheats to 
the state and all fines imposed in the courts was resorted to in 182 1 
and became the fixed policy of the state. After 1846 license fees to 
retailers of liquors, keepers of bilHard tables, brokers, and peddlers, 
and, later, the proceeds from sales of estrays and runaway slaves, were 
also appropriated to common schools.^ A permissive direct tax was 
authorized in 1846, and the boards of police in many counties levied 
school taxes, but there was at no time during the period of this study a 
compulsory statewide direct tax for schools. 

The general result of these policies was that only in very rare 
instances the trustees of townships maintained a free school before 1846. 
In some townships there were no schools even partly maintained by the 
sixteenth sections, and in some cases the people did not go through the 
formahty of electing trustees to care for the school lands. More fre- 
quently, it seems, the township trustees established a township school, 
employed a teacher, and devoted whatever income the township had 
from its school section to the payment of a part of the teacher's salary. 
The remainder of the salary was collected from the patrons of the school. 
If there were any indigent children in the township, the tuition rates 
for these were paid out of the Literary Fund by county commissioners 
appointed for that purpose. 

The township schools, however inadequate, served one good purpose. 
They were nurseries of the idea of publicly supported common schools 
among a people who had had no experience with such schools. As 

' See chap, x, p. no. 

2 For the act of 1821 see Laws of Mississippi, 1821, pp. 27-34. 

3 See Table III, chap. v. 4 See pp. 119-20. 



EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION BEFORE 1860 1 5 

Mississippi began to recover from the effects of the panic of 1837, the 
nation-wide revival of interest in common schools made itself felt in the 
state and manifested itself in a growing demand for a free school system. 
An advocate of public free schools was elected governor in 1843, but 
the legislature elected at the same time disregarded his recommenda- 
tions for a system of schools.^ Having been re-elected in 1845, the 
governor sent to the legislature a detailed plan for a system of schools 
modelled upon the laws of Massachusetts, and enclosed with his message 
a personal letter from Horace Mann describing the workings of the 
Massachusetts system.^ 

The legislature adopted the uniform school system, after inserting 
certain provisos of a permissive character that forbade the possibility 
of the system becoming uniform. When opposition developed, both 
from those who wanted an effective school system and from those who 
opposed free schools, the succeeding legislatures, in accordance with the 
general policy of deferring to local wishes, passed numerous acts, provid- 
ing different school laws for different counties and groups of counties.^ 
Thus the "uniform" public-school system was shattered like a broken 
mirror. 

The adoption of the common school law of 1846 brought a distinct 
gain to the educational conditions of the state, which was not all lost 
in the disintegration of the system. Some of the more progressive 
counties, in fact, provided better schools under the special acts than 
they could have secured under the general state law. Furthermore, 
the extension of indirect taxation under the act of 1846 by the appropria- 
tion of license fees from peddlers, brokers, keepers of billiard tables, 
and retailers of liquors to common school funds, was retained almost 
without exception in all counties of the state.'' Distinct progress was also 
made in some counties in the matter of direct taxation for schools. The 
poUcy of making an appropriation from the state treasury to assist 
those counties willing to tax themselves for common schools, under 
which $300,000 was distributed, was probably another resultant of the 
movement which caused the passage of the act of 1846. 

SECONDARY AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

The general policy of Mississippi was to leave to private initiative 
to provide means of secondary instruction. Academies were incorpor- 
ated, usually with self-perpetuating local boards of trustees, who, with 
few restrictions, were left to manage and maintain their institutions as 

' See chap, v, pp. 41. ' Senate Journal, 1846, pp. 64-66. 

3 See detailed discussion of this legislation in chap. v. < See Table XV, chap. xi. 



l6 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

seemed best to them. In a few instances provision was made for partial 
support of academies, and for a period of seven years, 1839-46, public 
funds were appropriated throughout the state to such institutions/ 

The policy of the state toward higher education differed little from 
its attitude toward secondary education, except in its deaUngs with the 
state university after its incorporation in 1844. After the incorporation 
of the university the state continued to hold in trust for it the Seminary 
Fund, which was the result of the sale of the federal land grant to the 
state for a "seminary of learning." To maintain the university the 
legislature adopted the plan of making annual appropriations. As a 
consequence of this financial dependence, although it was a self- 
perpetuating corporate body, the board of trustees were kept in vital 
relationship to the legislature.^ 

EDUCATION FOR SPECIAL CLASSES 

One of the early educational policies of Mississippi had for its object 
the schooling of orphans. Under its laws of apprenticeship, masters 
were required to teach their apprentices "to read, write, and cypher." 
After 1825 an Orphans' Home in the city of Natchez was supported in 
part by state appropriations.^ In 1848 the school for the blind was 
incorporated, and six years later the institution for the deaf and dumb 
was established. Both of these institutions were supported almost 
entirely by appropriations from the state treasury.'' 

GENERAL SITUATION 

The final result of the educational legislation in Mississippi at the 
close of the period of study might be stated briefly as follows: 

1, For common schools there was a mixed system of central and 
local control and support, with the emphasis decidedly in favor of the 
local units. 

2, Secondary education, except in the few large towns, was wholly 
in the hands of private individuals, with only slight restrictions imposed 
upon them by the state in their charters, and, except in rare instances, 
no public support. 

3, The responsibility for higher education was divided between the 
university, supported by the state, and the colleges maintained or 
favored by the religious denominations. It had become the fixed 
policy of the legislature to control and support the university, as also 
the institutions for the blind and the deaf and dumb, through legislative 
enactments and appropriations from year to year. 

' Detailed discussion will be found in chap. vi. ^ See pp. 94-95. 

2 See chap, vii for full discussion. '• See pp. 100-104. 



CHAPTER III 

EDUCATIONAL BEGINNINGS; LEGISLATION OF THE 
TERRITORIAL PERIOD 

The first territorial government for Mississippi was organized in 
1798 under provisions almost identical with those of the ordinance of 
1787, with the legislative power vested in the governor and three judges. 
Two years later Congress granted the petition of a large portion of the 
inhabitants of the territory, who were dissatisfied with Governor Sargent, 
that the legislative power be vested in a general assembly. At that 
time the number of qualified voters was probably less than one-fourth 
the number required by the ordinance for the modified form of govern- 
ment.^ The act of Congress granting an assembly became effective 
May 10, 1800, and provided for an election to be held the first Monday 
of the following July for members of the House of Representatives. 
The upper house, or council, was to consist of five members appointed 
by the President from a list of ten nominations made by the House. 
The assembly was to meet annually in December, but the commissions 
for the members of the council did not arrive in time for a session in 
1800. A called session in July, 1801, failed to enact any legislation 
which received the sanction of the governor. In December, 1801, the 
assembly met in its first regular session, the first effective popular 
legislative body of the territory.^ 

BEGINNINGS OF HIGHER EDUCATION 

On May 4, 1802, Governor Claiborne sent a special message to 
the general assembly, in which he urged the importance of a "system 
of public education," saying: 

I should be sorry to see the functions of the first legislature chosen 
by the People concluded, until some provision was made upon this inter- 
esting subject If wealth be not used as an Instrument to promote 

knowledge and rational refinement, there is danger that it may produce 
Luxury and Vice in the rising Generation, and become the means of corruption 

both Public and Private I submit, therefore, the propriety of extending 

your legislative cares to the Education of our Youth: a seminary of Learning, 
established at some situation central to the Population of the Territory, 

' Rowland, Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, II, 76. 
^ Ihid., p. 78. 

17 



1 8 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

fostered by the Government, and placed under the direction of a well selected 
Board of trustees, would, I flatter myself, become a fruitful nursery of Science 
and Virtue. At the Seminary our youth would be collected into one com- 
munity, and would form the ties of intimacy, which would bind their hearts 
in vmion and friendship through life.' 




MISSISSIPPI 
TERRITORY 

in- 1&02 



Mississippi Territory in 1802 

In response to this appeal the legislature passed "An act to establish 
a College in the Mississippi Territory," which was approved on May 13, 
1802 — just nine days after the governor had submitted his message to 
the legislature. Thus at their first opportunity the elected representa- 
tives of the people of Mississippi manifested their interest in the 
education of the youth of the territory. 

The charter of the new institution provided that it should be called 
Jefferson College, in honor of "Thomas Jefferson, President of the 
United States and President of the American Philosophical Society." 



Rowland, Mississippi Territorial Archives, I, 431-32. 



EDUCATIONAL BEGINNINGS 19 

Thirty-four trustees were named and made a self-perpetuating corporate 
body. They were given power to select a site for the college, "some 
healthy and central situation," and to contract for buildings.' They 
were authorized to employ a president and faculty, to examine into the 
proficiency of the students, and to confer the degrees of bachelor of 
arts and master of arts. The trustees were required to "take effectual 
care that students of all denominations be admitted to equal advantages" 
and "receive a like fair and generous treatment." The legislature did 
not feel that the young territory was then in position to give direct 
financial aid to the college. It was given exemption from taxation, 
and the students and faculty were exempted from militia duty, except 
in case of actual invasion. The trustees were authorized to raise by 
lottery the sum of $10,000. They were also required to collect donations 
from the citizens of the territory and from others, and to inscribe the 
names of the donors and their donations in a book to be preserved in 
the archives of the college in order that posterity might know who were 
the benefactors of the institution.^ 

Apparently there was no great rush of the benevolent-minded to get 
their names preserved in the archives of the college. When the next 
legislature assembled in the following December, Governor Claiborne 
reminded the legislators that their predecessors had passed an act to 
establish a college, but had left its support to private contribution. 
Believing that support of this kind was "too precarious to insure the 
welfare of so desirable an institution," he recommended that a tax be 
put on marriage licenses for the permanent endowment of the college, 
and that Congress be solicited to make a donation of land to it.-' The 
latter recommendation resulted in securing a provision in the act of 
Congress of March 3, 1803, setting aside for the use of Jefferson College 
thirty-six sections of public land, to be located in one body by the 
secretary of the treasury, and also donating two town lots in Natchez, 
with "an outlet adjoining the same, not exceeding thirty acres," to be 
located by the governor of the territory. ■* 

The township of land granted by Congress was located in the eastern 
portion of the territory on the Tombigbee River. After the division of 
the territory it lay in Alabama. Many years later the legislature of 

' The site selected was Washington in the extreme southwestern part of the 
territory, but at that time near the center of white population. See map on p. 18. 

^ Digest, 1816, p. 310. 3 Rowland, op. cit., I, 561. 

4 The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America from the Organization 
of the Government in ijSg to March j, 184^, II, 234. 



20 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Mississippi described the lands as "sterile, unproductive, pine barrens, 
subject to periodical inundations of the Tombeckbee' River."^ What- 
ever value the lands may have acquired later, the gift did not provide 
the means for maintaining a college during the territorial period. In 
1803 a site for the college was selected at Washington, about six miles 
from Natchez, but for many years no attempt was made to put the 
school in operation. 

It was not until 1810 that Jefferson College opened its doors to 
students, and then only the "academic" or preparatory department was 
begun. In fact, it seems probable that the collegiate department was 
not opened until after the territory became a state. ^ 

The legislature in 18 10 granted to the school all escheats throughout 
the territory for a period of ten years,'' from which source five or six 
thousand dollars were realized. ^ An attempt was made in 181 1 to pass 
an act "for raising a fund for erecting buildings and for the support of 
the Jeffersonian College of Mississippi Territory," and the bill passed 
the House, but failed to become a law.*" The school, however, managed 
to continue its sessions as an academy, receiving but little financial 
assistance from the territorial government. In 1816 the legislature 
granted to the trustees of the institution a loan of $6,000, to be paid in 
four equal instalments, the first becoming due January i, 181 7. The 
trustees were required to secure the loan to the territory by giving bond 
for twice the amount involved and a mortgage on the real estate of the 
college.^ 

Thus the territorial period closed with the only college within the 
territory unprovided with adequate means for its maintenance, indebted 
to the territorial government, and with its endowment of lands mortgaged 
as security for the debt. The subsequent story of the state's relations 
to this institution will be related in the chapter, "Higher Education in 
Mississippi from 18 17 to i860."* 

' Tombigbee. ^ Laws of Mississippi, 1830 (November), pp. 145-46. 

3 Morrison, "Early History of Jefferson College," Publication of the Mississippi 
Historical Society, II, 179-88. 

t Digest, 1816, p. 264. 

s Mayes, "History of Education in Mississippi," United States Bureau of Educa- 
tion, Circular of Information, No. 2, p. 27. 

^ House Journal, 181 1, pp. 40, 44, 51, 73, 74. 

' Digest, 1816, p. 453. 8 See chap, vii, p. 82. 



EDUCATIONAL BEGINNINGS 21 

BEGINNINGS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION 

The charter of Jefferson College was the first act of incorporation 
granted by a Mississippi legislature for any purpose whatever. The 
delay in opening the school, however, permitted two chartered academies 
to precede it in actual operation. The first charter granted to a second- 
ary institution in the territory incorporated the Franklin Society in 
Jefferson County on January 8, 1807. This society had been organized 
more than a year before, and had opened its school, which was called 
Franklin Academy.' Among the incorporators of the society were 
Cato West, Thomas Hinds, and others prominent in the early history 
of the territory and state. They were empowered to purchase, receive, 
hold, and enjoy real and personal property "for the purpose of enabling 
them better to carry into execution, encourage, and promote such 
measures" as might tend to advance the interests of Franklin Academy.^ 

Madison Academy in Claiborne County was the next school to 
receive letters of incorporation. The charter was granted on December 5, 
1809, but the school had been organized earlier, as is indicated in the 
charter. The act provided that "the school on the north fork of 
Bayou Pierre in the neighborhood of Port Gibson, now under the 
direction of Henry C. Cox, be, and the same is, hereby erected 
into an Academy, hereafter to be known by and bear the name of 
Madison Academy." A board of trustees of thirteen members was 
named, and was given the power to fill vacancies in its own body. It 
was stipulated in the charter that children of all religious denominations 
should be admitted "to equal advantages" and should "receive alike 

^ Franklin Society was organized and its constitution adopted at a meeting held 
January 4, 1806. According to the provisions of the constitution, subscribers to the 
society were required to pay an admission fee of $20 and a subsequent annual fee of 
$10, which was to go to the support of the academy. At a meeting held August 19, 
1806, a house and lot was rented at Greenville, Jefferson County, from Edward 
Turner for the sum of $100 in advance, and Felix Hughes was employed as teacher. 
Rates of tuition were fixed at $20 a year for "Reading, Writing, and Common Arith- 
metic," and $30 for "English Grammar, Bookkeeping, Geography, and the practical 
branches of the Mathematics, and the Latin and Greek languages." The date of the 
opening was set for the first day of the following month. That the school actually 
opened at the time contemplated is indicated by an advertisement in the Missis- 
sippi Messenger of September 16, 1806, in which Martha Throckmorton proposed 
to give board and lodging "at her Houses in Greenville" to "pupils to the Franklin 
Academy" for eight dollars a month, and with washing included for ten dollars a 
month. Mississippi Messenger, February it, August 19, and September 16, 1806. 

^ Digest, 1816, p. 52. 



22 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

fair and generous treatment." The trustees were granted the privilege 
of raising by lottery for the benefit of the institution a sum not exceeding 
$2,000/ In December, 1814, the legislature authorized the removal of 
Madison Academy, provided the new location should be not more than 
three miles from Port Gibson.^ 

For several years these two academies seem to have been the chief 
dependence of the people of the Natchez district for secondary education. 
At any rate, no others in the western part of the territory were incor- 
porated until 1814. In the meantime there had grown up rather 
extensive settlements near Mobile Bay and along the rivers tributary to 
the bay, forming a nucleus for the later territory of Alabama. During 
the years 181 1 and 181 2 two academies were chartered for the citizens 
of this eastern country, Washington Academy, at St. Stephens, in old 
Washington County, and Greene Academy, located in old Madison 
County.^ These two schools seem to have been especially favored by 
the territorial legislatures. They were the only academies of the 
territorial period that were given exemption from taxation in their 
charters, and they were permitted to raise larger sums by lotteries than 
any others, $5,000 for Washington and $4,000 for Greene.^ In 1816 
they were granted direct appropriations from the territorial treasury 
of $500 each, the only instance when money was appropriated by the 
territory directly for an educational purpose.^ 

Toward the close of the territorial period, four additional academies 
were incorporated in the Natchez section of the territory. Jackson 
Academy, in Wilkinson County, was given a charter in 1814.^ During 
the following year two other academies in Wilkinson County were 
incorporated on the same day, December 23. These were Pinckneyville 
Academy in the town of Pinckneyville and Wilkinson Academy at 
Woodville.'' At the same session the legislature also gave a charter to 

I Digest, 1816, p. 53. ^ Ihid., p. 54. 

3 These counties are not to be confused with the later counties of Madison and 
Washington created in Mississippi. When the territory was divided they were thrown 
into Alabama. 

'' Digest, 1816, pp. 54, 56. 

s Appended to act making loan to Jefferson College, Digest, 1816, p. 80: "There 
i s also hereby given and granted to Greene Academy and St. Stephens Academy each 
the sum of $500, to be paid out of the Territorial treasury, on the auditor's warrant, 
which warrant he is hereby required to issue on the order of the president of the said 
academies respectively." 

^ Digest, 1816, p. 57- 7 Ibid., pp. 58, 59. 



EDUCATIONAL BEGINNINGS 23 

Amite Academy, for which the trustees were to select a site within three 
miles of Liberty.' 

The eight academies that have been named constitute the beginnings 
of secondary education in Mississippi. The acts of incorporation have 
several characteristics in common. The boards of trustees were all 
self-perpetuating bodies. The names of the institutions, with the 
exception of Pinckneyville Academy, indicate that they were expected 
to serve more than a local constituency, four bearing the names of 
men of national fame and three the names of the counties they were to 
serve. In none of the charters was any provision made for support, 
except to the extent of authorizing small sums to be raised by lottery.^ 

Six of the eight academies of Mississippi Territory were located in 
the group of counties comprising the "Natchez District."^ With the 
exception of Amite Academy they were all within the four counties 
bordering upon the Mississippi River. The new counties of Franklin, 
Lawrence, Pike, Marion, Wayne, Greene, Hancock, and Jackson had 
made no provisions for secondary education that are revealed by the 
legislation of the territory. Tliese counties at the time were very thinly 
settled. 

BEGINNINGS OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 

It may appear that Mississippi Territory began her educational 
structure at the top and worked downward. This, however, is only 
apparently true, for although her first school legislation was the incor- 
poration of Jefferson College and the next was the chartering of acade- 
mies, it must be remembered that academies preceded the college in 
opening their doors to students, and that they were not strictly speaking 
mere secondary schools. The academies of Mississippi, as, indeed, of 
the whole nation, had a very elastic and varied curriculum. They 
supplied whatever their patronage demanded, when they could, and did 
not stop to ask whether they were doing elementary or secondary work. 
Indeed, they had no scruples against offering college work. It is clear 
that Franklin Academy, the first chartered institution to admit pupils 
in the territory, was an elementary school as well as an academy. This 
is probably true of all other academies of the period. 

It should be remembered further that private elementary schools 
scattered here and there constituted an essential part of the school 

' Ibid., p. 57. 

» See Table XVI, p. 124. 

3 The other two were located in Washington and Madison counties, now a part of 
the state of Alabama. 



24 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

facilities of the territory, although they were without legislative 
recognition.^ 

But the people of Mississippi Territory, or at least their chosen 
leaders, were not content to rely on private resources for the support 
of elementary education. Governor Claiborne in the message to the 
legislature in 1802 seems to have had in mind something more than 
Jefferson College when he urged the need of "a system of public educa- 
tioH." In 1806, acting Governor Cowles Meade in his address to the 
legislature said : 

Taught by the experience of centuries, warned by the expiring groans of 
falling states, cautioned by the miseries of others, let us begin our Young 
Republic by providing largely and munificently for the general diffusion of 
knowledge; let the poor be supplied with means of education; let schools be 
erected throughout your Territory on such generous terms as will enable every 

' The newspapers of the period contain frequent references to these private 
elementary schools, which often provided work of higher grade. Such advertisements 
as the following, both from the Mississippi Messenger of April 29, 1806, were not 
uncommon: 

WANTED 

in the town of Greenville 
(where a large school can be had) 

A Teacher 

of the EngUsh Language. None need apply, but such as will con- 
tinue one year at least, and can come well recommended. 



JAMES WILKINS 
has taken that large and commodious House on the Bluff, formerly 
occupied as a Government-House; where he will teach young 
Females Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Geography, and the use 
of Globes. 

He will also board them if required, bedding being found by 
his employers. 

If sufficient encouragement is offered, he will endeavour to 
procure that Dancing and Music shall also be taught in his house. 

Particular attention will be paid by Mrs. Wilkins to the 
manners and accommodation of Boarders; she will also, as 
early as the age of her young child will permit, instruct them in 
Needle-Work. 

Terms made known on application. 

To commence on the 17th inst. 
Natchez, March 11, 1806. 



EDUCATIONAL BEGINNINGS 25 

citizen to understand his proper station in society . . . . , to detect the 
guise of craft and duplicity, and expose the lurking deceits of the ambitious 
hypocrite.' 

To this eloquent outburst the legislature responded: 

We shall use our best endeavours for the adoption of some efficient plan, 
by which to disseminate the seeds of science among the rising generation.^ 

Apparently the legislature could find no satisfactory plan for dis- 
seminating the "seeds of science," for there is no record of any legislation 
in the interest of public education at this session. In fact, no act was 
passed by any territorial legislature with specific reference to elementary 
schools. 

The real beginnings of pubUc elementary education are to be found 
in the federal legislation of this period. When in 1803 Congress passed 
an act providing for the disposal of public lands within the new territory, 
the policy of reserving the sixteenth section in each township for school 
purposes was extended to Mississippi.'' When it was discovered, soon 
after, that in some townships the sixteenth sections had passed into 
private hands by earlier grants, Congress passed a supplementary act 
which provided that 

Whenever the section number sixteen shall fall upon land already granted 
by virtue of any act of Congress, or claimed by virtue of a British grant, the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall locate another section in lieu thereof, for the 
use of schools, which location shall be made in the same township, if there 
be any other vacant section therein, and otherwise in an adjoining township. ^ 

Two years later a third act of Congress reserved all the sixteenth 
sections in the portion of the territory ceded to the federal goverrmient 
by the Indians in 1805.^ 

In 181 5, Congress authorized the county courts to take charge of the 
lands reserved by the United States for school purposes, to lease the 
lands for a period not to extend beyond January i, following the admission 
of the territory as a state, and to expend the proceeds of the leases in 
building schoolhouses.^ With these four acts of Congress as a basis 
the people of the state of Mississippi, in the face of numerous difficulties, 
were to begin the slow and arduous process of developing a public-school 
system. 

' Mississippi Messenger, December 9, 1806. 

'Ibid. 

3 Statutes at Large, II, 229. 5 Ibid., p. 480. See map, p. 5. 

* Ibid., p. 400. * Ibid., Ill, 163. 



CHAPTER IV 

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION FROM 1817 TO 1846. THE SIXTEENTH 
SECTIONS AND THE TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS 

When Mississippi became a state in 1817 there was incorporated 
into her constitution the well-known provision of the ordinance of 
1787: 

Religion, morality, and knowledge being means to good government, the 
preservation of liberty, and the happiness of mankind, schools, and the means 
of education, shall be forever encouraged in this state.' 

The first legislature to assemble under this constitution authorized 
the judges of the county courts to take charge of the land given by the 
United States government for school purposes in their respective coun- 
ties, and to provide for the erection of one or more schools, as they 
"deemed right and useful." They were permitted to lease the school 
lands for not longer than three years at a time, and to dispose of the 
proceeds from these leases "according to the terms of the donation." 
In erecting schoolhouses the judges were required to expend the rents 
from school sections within the township to which the lands belonged.^ 
In 1820 the law was amended so as to require the county courts to direct 
the sheriffs of the several counties to lease the school sections for a 
period of five years, as soon as the previous leases should expire. The 
lessees were required to give bond in double the amount of the value of 
the land they leased that there should be no waste of timber or soil. 
This amendatory act also provided that the county courts should appoint 
in each township from three to five "discreet land holders" to put into 
operation such schools as in their judgment might be "compatible 
with their funds." These "discreet land holders" were required to 
apply to the schools they should establish all the rents received from 
the school lands of their respective townships.^ 

It is evident that funds provided by the short leases must have 
been inadequate even for the erection of school cabins in many of the 

' Thorpe, The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic 
Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies, IV, 2025-68. 

* Approved February 5, 1818. Hutchinson, Code of Mississippi, p. 205. 

3 Laws of Mississippi, 1820. MS Laws, Mississippi State Archives, Series I, No. 3. 

26 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1817-1846 2^ 

townships, and in others it was doubtless impossible to lease the school 
lands at all. When by any means houses were erected wholly or in 
part from the proceeds of the leases, the schools had to be maintained 
chiefly by private subscriptions and tuition rates. In 182 1 Governor 
Poindexter reported to the legislature the result of an investigation of 
the school situation throughout the state, which he said was based upon 
information received from every county. He said, in part: 

There is scarcely a seminary of learning among us worthy of the name; 
perhaps not one. The rudiments of the Enghsh language are taught in a 
few private schools dispersed over a wide extent of country, and even these 
meet with poor encouragement, and are often conducted by incompetent 
teachers. Jefferson College, which has been so richly endowed by the general 
government, and upon which our liberality has been so freely bestowed, is 
comparatively an empty dome with pensioned preceptors.' 

ACT TO ESTABLISH THE LITERARY FUND 

The governor recommended that a "Literary Fund" for the endow- 
ment of public education and for the education of the poor be raised 
by a moderate annual tax. The legislature responded by passing an 
act entitled, "an act to establish a Literary Fund, and for the encour- 
agement and support of education in this state. "^ The act appropri- 
ated to the Literary Fund all "escheats, confiscations, forfeitures, and 
all personal property accruing to the state as derelict " after December 30, 
1821, and "all fines, pecuniary penalties, and forfeitures," imposed 
within the state for the violation of a penal statute or for a misdemeanor, 
except such as were otherwise particularly appropriated. A direct tax 
of one-sixth of the general state tax was also levied for the fund, but 
this clause was repealed by the next legislature.^ The act provided that 
such part of the moneys accruing as was needed for the payment of 
the tuition of poor children in the several counties of the state should 
be used for that purpose, and the balance should be reserved and invested 
as an endowment for public education, and be distributed to the coun- 
ties of the state when it should reach a total of $50,000. 

For the administration of the Literary Fund the act incorporated 
the "President and Directors of the Literary Fund." This body was 
made to consist of the governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of 
state, attorney-general, presiding judge of the supreijie court, the 

' Mississippi Stale Gazette, Natchez, January 6, 1821. 
= Laws of Mississippi, 1821, pp. 37-44. 
3 Ibid., 1822-23, PP- 103-4. 



28 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

chancellor of the state, and three persons elected by the general assembly. 
An amendment to the act in 1823 eliminated the attorney-general and 
chief justices of the two courts.' The directors were required to report 
annually the condition of the fund, the amount collected, the amount 
expended for the education of the poor, and the amount invested. 

For applying the portion of the income of the fund needed for the 
education of the poor, one section of the act^ required the president and 
directors to appoint in each county a board of school commissioners to 
consist of not less than five nor more than ten "discreet persons." 
The commissioners in each county were authorized to determine " what 
number of poor children" they would educate, and what sum should 
be paid for their education, and "to draw orders upon their treasurer 
for the payment of the expense of tuition, and of furnishing such children 
proper books and materials for writing and cyphering." The children 
selected by the commissioners were to be sent to such school as might 
be convenient "to be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic." The 
directors of the Literary Fund were required to pay over to the treasurer 
of the commissioners of each county such sum as the commissioners 
should certify was necessary for the education of the poor children of 
the county. An account of the expenditures of this sum was required 
of the commissioners by the directors of the fund. 

In addition to their duties relative to the education of the poor 
children, the school commissioners were required to appoint a com- 
mittee from their own body to visit all schools of all grades in their 
respective counties. The act also provided that no one should be per- 
mitted to teach in the state without demonstrating his qualifications to 
teach to the satisfaction of the directors of the Literary Fund. This 
provision of the act is discussed more fully in chapter x.^ It should be 
observed here, however, that the school commissioners did not have 
the power of employing or discharging teachers, or any other effective 
means of controlling teachers within their counties. 

The last four sections of the act under discussion took the control 
of the sixteenth sections from the county courts and gave to the presi- 
dent and directors of the Literary Fund the power to lease all school 
lands for such length of time as they might see fit. The president and 
directors were required to act through agents to be appomted in each 
county. The proceeds of the leases were to be used under the direction 
of the county school commissioners in erecting schoolhouses in the 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1822-23, pp. 103-4. 
* Sec. 10. 3 See p. 109. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1817-1846 29 

townships to which the lands leased should belong. This portion of 
the act was repealed in 1824, when the state adopted the township 
plan of control of schools. 

THE SYSTEM OF TOWNSHIP CONTROL OF SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL LANDS 

On January 9, 1824, an act of the legislature was approved, which 
fixed the policy of the state as to the control of schools and school lands 
for the next twenty-two years. The act provided for a board of trustees 
in each township in the state to consist of five men, elected annually 
by the resident heads of families who were legal voters.' In this act is 
reflected a general tendency in the state to keep power and authority 
as close to the people as was possible. The legislature probably was 
influenced also by the fact that each school section was the property 
of the township in which it was located and was designed for the educa- 
tion of the children of that particular township, and by the behef that 
it would be looked after most carefully by its immediate owners and 
beneficiaries. 

Except for slight limitations the township trustees were left free to 
do as they thought best with the rents from school lands, provided 
they used them "for the promotion of learning." They were required 
to preserve the school lands from improper waste, and were given power 
to lease them for terms of five years. They were to erect "such con- 
venient school house or houses" on the sections reserved for the use of 
schools as they thought best suited to the general interest of the families 
resident within the township, and were to make regulations for the 
government of the schools, employ the teachers, and "pay the same 
either in whole or in part, out of the moneys in their treasurer's hands." 
There was, however, no penalty for failure to provide schools. 

The system of township control of schools inaugurated in the act 
of 1824 remained in force until 1846. There were minor changes in 
various points of the law, to be sure, sometimes merely modifying the 
act in so far as it applied to a certain county or township, for it seemed 
to be generally agreed that if the law did not please any particular 
community, the state was ready to pass a special act to suit the local 
wishes. For instance, a special act provided that in township 17, 
range 5, east, in Warren County, the trustees should be elected for 
terms of five years instead of one year, and that all the school revenue 
of the township should be expended on one school.^ A score of similar 
acts could be quoted. 

• Laws of Mississippi, 1824, pp. 9-12. ' Ibid., 1829, pp. 29-30. 



30 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

THE NINETY-NINE- YEAR LEASES 

There was one feature of the law of 1824 that was subject to con- 
tinuous revisal. This was the clause limiting the term for which school 
lands might be leased. In 1826 the privilege was granted to township 11, 
range i, east, in Claiborne County, to lease its sixteenth section for 
ninety-nine years, and invest the proceeds in stock of the Bank of Mis- 
sissippi.' The dividends, only, were to be used for the support of the 
schools of the township. In 1830 there seems to have been a growing 
demand for the privilege of leasing school lands for longer periods than 
the five years provided by law, for the more extended leases were per- 
mitted by special acts as follows: 

Township 8 in Jefferson County 12 years^ 

Township 5, Range 3, in Rankin County 99 years^ 

All townships in Pike County 15 years^ 

AH townships in Madison, Jefferson, Claiborne, 

Monroe, and Lowndes counties 99 yearss 

In addition to the above there was a special act permitting the trustees 
of the school section in township 10, range 3, west, in Yazoo County, 
to lay off two hundred acres of the school section in town lots and lease 
these to the highest bidder for ninety-nine years. ^ 

No restrictions whatever were laid upon the trustees of the township 
in Rankin County relative to the ninety-nine-year lease. In the more 
comprehensive act for the counties of Madison, Jefferson, Claiborne, 
Monroe, and Lowndes, it was required that the full amount of the 
leases should be paid within four years in equal annual instalments, 
that they should be granted only upon the direction of a majority of 
the resident heads of families of the township involved, and that the 
lands were to be advertised, and let to the highest bidder, but for not 
less than five dollars an acre. In case there were no bidders, trustees 
might, upon the direction of the majority of the resident heads of 
families, advertise the lands a second time and lease to the highest 
bidder at a minimum of two dollars an acre. The act required that 
the proceeds of the leases should be invested in bank stock, which should 
constitute a permanent endowment for education in the township, and 
the dividends, only, might be used for the schools. 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1826, pp. 96-97. 

^ Ibid., 1830 (January), pp. 114-15. 

3 Ibid., 1830 (November), p. 36. 

" Ibid., p. 21. 5 Ibid., pp. 97-98. 

^ Ibid., 1830 (January), pp. 31-32. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1817-1846 3 1 

There is one important difference between the acts authorizing the 
twelve- and fifteen-year leases and those authorizing the ninety-nine- 
year leases. In the case of the former the lessee paid an annual rent 
which was expended directly upon the schools of the township; in the 
latter the lease was regarded as a sale, except that the lessee received 
a title for ninety-nine years instead of in fee simple, and the entire pro- 
ceeds were to be paid in a few years, but were to be invested and only 
the interest or dividends upon them were to be used.' 

The motives that inspired the people of the townships seeking the 
privilege of leasing the school lands for ninety-nine years can be inferred 
only from a consideration of the general conditions of the time and 
from the provisions of the acts. There seems to be some foundation 
for the behef that in all the long leases prior to 1833 the chief considera- 
tion of the people and the legislatures was the desire to realize something 
tangible for school purposes as quickly as was consistent with the 
general educational interests of the townships involved. Lands were 
plentiful and cheap at the time that this movement was inaugurated 
so that it was difficult, doubtless, to find persons who cared to rent 
school lands, mostly unimproved, for the short period of five years. 
Furthermore, the Bank of Mississippi had been administered upon safe 
banking principles, was thoroughly sound and exceedingly prosperous. 
The stockholders had grown wealthy from the dividends and surplus 
that had accrued.'' What is more plausible than the argument that we 
can virtually sell these idle school lands, collect the proceeds in cash, 
and invest it in bank stock ? The investment is safe, and the schools 
will share in the wealth that is being accumulated by the banks. The 
endowment provided by the Literary Fund is gradually piling up in 
the state treasury, and nearing the point where, under the law, it must 
be distributed to the counties. Why not create a second endowment 
fund from the sixteenth sections ? 

' The ninety-nine-year leases are frequently referred to in later acts as sales. It 
is possible that some trustees in violation of law actually sold their sections in fee 
simple, and that such sales were afterwards legahzed, but there is not sufficient evi- 
dence in the statutes to justify such a conclusion. Numerous instances of acts to 
"legalize sales" or "legalize leases" indicate that the word sale was used to mean a 
ninety-nine-year lease. See p. 32 and footnote. There are two instances where 
sales in fee simple were clearly authorized. One township in Lowndes County was 
given this privilege in 1852, and the school commissioners of Lauderdale County in 
1854 were authorized to sell in fee simple all the school lands in the county, except in 
such townships as a majority of the voters signed a petition to the contrary. Laws 
of Mississippi, 1852, p. ii6; 1854, pp. 456-57. 

^ Brough, "History of Banking in Mississippi," Publications of the Mississippi 
Historical Society, III, 3 1 7-40. 



32 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

It should be observed that the movement for the extension of leases 
arose within the townships and counties, and that the acts of the legis- 
lature were in response to the demands from local constituencies. It 
should be observed, further, that with one exception the legislature 
very carefully guarded the rights of the schools. It should also be 
noted that the legislature in authorizing the earlier long leases provided 
a minimum sum for which the lands might be leased that compared 
favorably with the price for which lands could be purchased in fee 
simple. Again, it should be noted that the lands were leased in no 
case for an annual pittance, as was done in some of the other states, 
but always for a lump sum, payable, usually, in four annual instalments. 
These leases, it appears, differed from sales only in that the purchaser 
received title for only ninety-nine years.'' In view of the facts that 
have been recounted it is possible to conclude that the motives inspiring 
the long leases prior to 1833 were purely patriotic, representing an 
earnest desire to use the school lands to the best advantage for public 
education. 

But whatever may be said in justification of the earlier long leases, 
it must be admitted that they opened the way for legislation that 
proved disastrous to the school interests of the state. In 1833 an act 
was passed extending to all counties in the state the privilege of leasing 
school lands for a term of ninety-nine years. The circumstances under 
which this law was enacted and the provisions contained within it 
indicate that it was passed not in response to the demands of school 

' An act of 1841 gave to lessees of school lands the same rights in courts of law 
that owners of lands in fee simple had, except that they might not sue the lessors. 
See Laws of Mississippi, 1841, p. 127. 

Attention has been called to the fact that the words "sale" and "lease" seem to be 
used synonymously in the laws to refer to the ninety-nine-year leases. This is clearly 
true in the following act: 

"An act for the relief of purchasers of the sixteenth sections in the county of 
Greene, and for other purposes. 

"Whereas, the several sixteen sections of land in the counties of Green, Wayne, and 
Lauderdale, have been sold, and the purchasers thereof, having purchased in good 
faith, have paid a portion of the purchase money, and have executed their notes for 
the balance of the purchase money; and whereas such sales were not made in strict 
comphance with the provisions of the laws in such cases made and provided; 

" Be it enacted — That so soon as said purchasers shall pay to the county treasurer 
— the balance of the purchase money now remaining unpaid, the presidents of the 
boards of pohce of said counties are authorized and directed, to execute a lease to 
said purchasers of said sixteenth sections, for the term of ninety-nine years from the 
date of sale, and said lease shall be valid, as if said lands had been legally and properly 
sold." Laws of Mississippi, 1859, p. 70. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1817-1846 33 

trustees or patrons, nor in the interest of the schools of the state, but 
for the purpose of promoting the pet scheme of the governor and the 
legislature at the time. The Planters' Bank had been incorporated 
two years before with a capital stock of $3,000,000, and the state govern- 
ment was having difficulty in getting the stock subscribed.^ One of 
the several schemes adopted by the legislature to secure subscriptions 
to the bank stock was to authorize the leasing of all sixteenth sections in 
the state for ninety-nine years provided that the proceeds be invested 
in Planters' Bank stock. The only limitation placed upon the trustees 
in making the leases was the requirement that a majority of the heads 
of families in the various townships must request such action before 
the trustees could legally grant the lease. Not only was the minimum 
price of five dollars or two dollars an acre omitted from this act, but 
also it was expressly indicated in the act that the legislature expected 
many of the sections to be disposed of for trifling sums, for it was pro- 
vided that if any section leased for less than $100, the price of one share 
in the Planters' Bank, the sum secured should be lent at interest until 
the amount was sufficient to purchase one share of the stock.* 

LOSS OF THE SIXTEENTH SECTION FUNDS 

It is not known how many townships availed themselves of the 
opportunity to turn their school lands into stock of the Planters' Bank. 
Apparently, however, only a small proportion of the sixteenth sections 
were leased under the restrictions provided in 1833 as to the investment 
of the funds. This was due probably to several causes, largely, per- 
haps, to inertia on the part of the resident heads of famiUes and the 
lack of demand for the lands. The Chickasaw cession had just been 
consummated, and with the prospect of large areas of public lands to be 
secured in fee simple, the demand for the ninety-nine-year leases could 
not have been very great. The Chickasaw lands brought a flood of 
immigration to the state, however, which rapidly took up the public 
lands and caused considerable inflation in real estate values. It seems 
probable that the townships in some case may have been deterred 
from leasing their lands under the act of 1833 because of the intense 
opposition to the Planters' Bank and the lack of confidence in that 
enterprise.^ At any rate, most of the school sections that were leased 

' See Brough, loc. cit. 

^ Laws of Mississippi, MS Laws, 1833, Mississippi State Archives, Series I, No. 18. 

J The Natchez Southern Galaxy was one of the papers that voiced the opposition 

to the Planters' Bank. "Can the legislature," it asked, "for a moment imagine that 



34 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

for ninety-nine years were not disposed of until after the act of 1833 
was amended in 1836. The amendment, which was approved in Febru- 
ary of the latter year, provided that the trustees might lend the proceeds 
from the leases to "good and responsible persons" at 10 per cent interest, 
to be secured by notes payable within twelve months, or might invest 
the proceeds in the purchase at par of stock in any solvent bank.^ 

Under the acts of 1833 and 1836 the lessees of school lands were to pay 
the full amount of the purchase price in four annual instalments. The 
law required only that the notes given for the deferred payments should 
be endorsed by two good securities, and no mortgages were taken. 
Evidences soon began to accumulate that in many cases the lessees 
failed to make their deferred payments. The act of 1836 authorized 
the presidents of boards of trustees to bring suits against debtors to the 
school funds, and required the district attorneys to prosecute all such 
suits.^ Subsequent acts provided for the assessment of 20 per cent 
damages, where lessees of lands or borrowers of school funds had to be 
sued.^ 

In the meantime it had become evident that most of the supposedly 
"solvent banks" of the state, in whose stock the school funds of some 
townships had been invested, were in a serious condition. The era of 
wild speculation, inflation of values, and extension of credit was followed 
by a reaction. In 1837 the panic came, and banks suspended specie 
payments. In 1840 the legislature passed an act for winding up the 
business of insolvent banks, and Governor McNutt, under the authority 
given in the act, immediately declared many of the bank charters for- 
feited. Other banks had put their assets in trust before the law became 
effective.'' In the following year the trustees of schools were authorized 
to sell at pubHc sale to the highest bidder for cash all depreciated bank 
paper in their hands.^ 



the enormous sum of $3,000,000 would be subscribed, and actually paid in for the 
stock of a bank, foimded in bad faith, uncertain of the duration of its existence, and 
still more uncertain of successful operation?" Rowland, Encyclopedia of Mississippi 
History, I, 187. 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1836, p. 15. 
^ Ibid., p. 19. 

^Ihid., 1840, p. 196; 1842, pp. 130-33; 1854, p. 554. See also Governor Brown's 
message, Senate Journal, 1846, pp. 23 ff. 
^ Rowland, op. cit., I, 220. 
5 Laws of Mississippi, 1841, pp. 122-23. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1817-1846 35 

In 1843 the legislature passed an act which offers an additional 
explanation of the total loss of the sixteenth section funds in most 
townships of the state. Section 4 of this act reads in part as follows : 

It shall be the duty of the trustees of each of the townships in this state 
to distribute the proceeds arising from the sale or lease of the sixteenth sections 
therein, to all schools that may be established within said townships; which 
distribution shall be in proportion to the number of resident scholars attending 
each school respectively. 

This act seems to direct an abandonment of the endowment plan, 
and to require the trustees to use the principal, or actual proceeds of 
leases, instead of the interest only, as all previous acts had required. 
The act provided that under certain conditions leases previously made 
might be rescinded and that new leases might be made at a lower price 
and on easier terms.' Only one-tenth of the total purchase price was 
to be paid annually, instead of one-fourth, as required in the earlier 
laws. It seems probable that many townships taking advantage of this 
act, where they had not been able to collect the proceeds of the earlier 
leases, made new contracts, and apphed the whole of the annual pro- 
ceeds to maintaining their schools.^ 

It should be observed that all the legislation relative to the leasing 
of sixteenth sections prior to 1846 was permissive in character, and 
that the final decision as to the disposition of the school lands was left 
to the trustees and resident heads of families in each township. It is 
evident that under such conditions the management of school lands 
must have varied greatly in different parts of the state, and often in 

' It has sometimes been inferred from the title of this act that it was intended to 
authorize the repudiation of school leases after the proceeds had been lost in bad 
investments. Were it not for a proviso contained in the act this inference might be 
drawn, for the title reads: "An act to authorize the trustees of schools and school 
lands in all of the sixteenth sections reserved to this State by act of Congress, to 
rescind sales, leases, and other contracts made in relation thereto, and for other 
purposes." The act, however, provides that no sale, lease, or other contract shall be 
rescinded, where purchaser, lessee, or contractor is able to comply with his contract, 
unless the majority of the resident heads of famihes in the township first give their 
consent in writing to such reduction, and no reduction shall be made unless lessee shall 
secure the remainder of the purchase money by mortgage or other security to the 
satisfaction of the trustees. It is clear that new leases were to be made at lower 
figures and on easier terms. Laws of Mississippi, 1842, pp. 130-33. 

' Evidence of such action is slight. The president of the board of poKce of Yazoo 
Coimty refers in 1846 to townships using their school money or the interest thereon 
for schools in his county, implying that some townships were operating under the 
act of 1842. Senate Journal, 1846, p. 55. 



36 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

the same part, and even in the same county. To confirm this inference 
there have been preserved the rephes to a questionnaire relative to the 
sixteenth sections and common schools, which Governor Brown sent to 
the presidents of the boards of police and the probate judges of the 
several counties in 1845. Replies were received from only fifteen 
counties,^ but these are suflacient to indicate every sort of management 
or mismanagement of the school lands, ranging from a considerable 
degree of success to inefl&ciency, criminal negligence, and downright 
dishonesty. 

' These replies were submitted to the legislature with the governor's message in 
1846. They may be found in the Senate Journal of that year, pp. 41-60. It will be 
permissible to summarize here the reports from a few counties representing different 
sections of the state. 

Monroe County: Only nine school sections in county. (The greater part of the 
county was in the Chickasaw cession, for which Congress adopted a different plan of 
land grant for schools.) One section valueless. Eight townships had sold from seven- 
eighths to the whole of their school section, i.e., leased for ninety-nine years. (See- 
pp. 31 and 32 and footnotes.) Each of the eight townships had proceeds of sale 
lent at 10 per cent interest and well secured. Sums at interest ranged from $736.94 
for the poorest township to $2,360 for the wealthiest. Two townships maintaining 
one free school each for ten months. In one township there were three schools, 
free to all for three months in the year. In two townships there were no schools during 
past year, but one of them had sufficient funds to provide a free school six months. 

Yazoo County: J. J. Michies, president of the board of pohce reported twenty- 
two sections in the county. "About thirteen of the number," he wrote, "have been 
leased for ninety-nine years, at what price, I cannot say. Four or five of these sec- 
tions were sold in Brandon times, and the proceeds have 'gone glimmering through the 
dream of things that were.'" The remaining townships that had "sold" their school 
lands were appropriating the "money or the interest thereon" to the support of 
schools. Forty acres of each section had been retained by the trustees, on which the 
schoolhouse was located. Twelve schools were receiving half their support from 
school land funds, and about 200 children in the county were being educated at the 
expense of these funds. In most instances where the fund was insufficient to sustain 
the school entirely, it was appropriated to the indigent, leaving the wealthy to pay 
their tuition fees. 

Hinds County: (Report from only one township, made by the secretary- treasurer 
of the township board of trustees.) The township had a total school fund of $6,362 . 2,Z, 
of which $5,231.12 had been derived from the sale of the school section. The fund 
was lent at 8 per cent, and two free schools were maintained by the proceeds. 

The Pine Woods Counties : The several reports from southeast Mississippi were all 
of about the same tenor. The soil of these counties is not fertile, and they were covered 
with dense forests of long leaf yellow pine timber, at that time inaccessible to market 
and in very little demand. Moreover, the difficulty of clearing the land and of 
cultivating around the pine stumps, which could not be removed without great expense, 
decreased the desirabihty of the land for agricultural purposes. Consequently there 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1817-1846 37 

LOSS OF THE LITERARY FUND 

The Literary Fund, created in 182 1, gradually accumulated a sur- 
plus above the amount needed for the education of the poor children 
of the various counties. In 1826 the governor was required to invest 
$i2,c»oo of the fund in stock of the Bank of Mississippi,' and two years 
later the entire fund was invested in this stock.^ In 1830 the invest- 
ment was ordered transferred to stock in the Planters' Bank.^ An 
effort to increase the fund by a direct tax of one-tenth of the state tax 
for general purposes was made by the act of February 12, 1830,'' but 
this act was repealed in the following December, before its provisions 
could be carried out even for one year.^ By 1833 the fund amounted 
to $50,000, and according to the act which created it, should have 
been distributed to the counties of the state.^ Instead of selling the 
stock of the Planters' Bank and distributing the proceeds, the legisla- 
ture chose to have the investment continue, to retain the stock in the 
treasury, and to prorate the shares according to the free white popula- 
tion of the several counties.'' The dividends upon their respective 
shares were ordered distributed to the counties. 



was not sufficient demand for land to make the school sections of any value for school 
purposes. The following reports are typical for this section of the state. 

Hancock County: Two sections sold for $70 and $175 respectively; twenty-five 
sections unsold; no schools maintained or children educated from the proceeds of 
sixteenth sections. 

Jones Coimty: Total number of school sections, sixteen; none leased; no schools 
maintained and no children schooled with sixteenth section funds. 

Wayne County: Only three school sections considered worth anything; one of 
these sold, proceeds unknown; four hundred acres of another section sold for one 
cent an acre; no schools supported by school lands and no children educated from 
proceeds of these lands. 

Harrison Coimty: Total number of sections, twenty-four; none sold; estimated 
value, $300 each. One section mostly in the Bay of Biloxi, and partly covered by an 
old Spanish grant. The secretary of the treasury had been requested to locate another 
section for this township. Three hundred and seventy-five children in the county; 
four common schools, attended by seventy-five children. Report adds: "Our popula- 
tion is at present much scattered, and this is one of the great difficulties to be overcome 
in this, as in all new settled countries, by individuals in getting means of instruction 
for their children." 

'Laws of Mississippi, 1826, p. 129. ^ Ibid., p. 38. 

'Ibid., 1828, p. 130. ^Ibid., 1830 (November), p. 19. 

3 Ibid., 1830 (January), p. 35. * See p. 27 of this chapter. 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1833 (JanuarjO, Mississippi State Archives, Series I, No. 19. 
The par value of each share was $100. The apportionment to the several counties 



38 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

The failure of the Planters' Bank swept away the entire amount 
accumulated for the Literary Fund, and the act which created it was 
practically repealed by the passage of an act in 1839 which turned to 
the academies of the state the revenue which had hitherto gone to the 
Literary Fund.^ 

ATTEMPT TO SECURE NEW SCHOOL LANDS 

While it was disposing of all the available school funds in the interest 
of the Planters' Bank, the legislature paused long enough in its labors 
to attempt to secure from Congress additional resources for common 
schools, possibly with the idea that they, too, should be invested in the 
bank stock. One action to this effect was a memorial to Congress 
praying that permission should be given to the majority of the resident 
heads of families of each township, to relinquish, if they saw fit, the 
sixteenth section and to enter some other section of public land within 
the Choctaw cession. The request was based upon the plea that fre- 
quently the sixteenth sections were sterile and unprofitable, especially 
"in the pine woods counties east of Pearl River. "^ The other action 
in this direction was in the form of a resolution, which sought to secure 
for the schools of the various counties all public lands within the coun- 
ties which had been offered for sale for three years without securing a 
purchaser.^ 



was as follows: Adams, 20 shares; Amite, 23; Claiborne, 22; Covington, 11; Copiah, 
32; Franklin, 15; Greene, 7; Hinds, 33; Hancock, 8; Jackson, 7; Jones, 7; Jefferson, 
20; Lawrence, 20; Lowndes, 14; Madison, 17; Marion, 13; Perry, 8; Rankin, 10; 
Simpson, 13; Yazoo, 13; Holmes, 12; Pike, 24; Wilkinson, 26; Warren, 20; Wayne, 
10; Washington, 5; Monroe, 17. 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1833 (November), Mississippi State Archives, Series I, 
No. 19. See chap, vi of this study, p. 53. 

2 Laws of Mississippi, 1833 (November), Mississippi State Archives, Series I, 
No. 19. 

3 Ihid. The resolution is as follows: 

"Believing that every true patriot who wishes the prosperity of our common 
country and the perpetuation of enlightened republican institutions feels a deep inter- 
est in spreading light and knowledge over our whole population; this we can conceive 
can be best promoted by the establishment of primary schools in each county in this 
state, and in each and every state in the Union; being however specially concerned 
as to the importance of educating the youths of this state in elementary principles, 
and beheving with our sister states that education is the only means of perpetuating 
a true knowledge of our government and its principles, and beheving that the attain- 
ment of such desirable ends cannot be a matter of indifference to the general govern- 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1817-1846 39 

CURRICULUM or THE TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS 

There is no definite statement of the curriculum of an elementary- 
school to be found in the legislation from 181 7 to 1846. Occasionally 
there is a reference to the common schools, or to the "common branches," 
but the legislature appears to assume that the content of these branches 
was fixed and well understood. That these branches consisted only of 
the three R's in 1821 is implied in the provision of the act creating the 
Literary Fund, which required commissioners of education to have the 
poor children of their respective counties taught reading, writing, and 
arithmetic' That the curriculum was expanded somewhat between 
182 1 and 1846 is indicated by the advertisements of schools in the news- 
papers of the period, but there is no confirmation of this opinion to be 
found in acts of the legislature.^ 

SUMMARY OF CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 

The passage of the common school act of 1846 marks the end of a 
distinct period in the history of the elementary schools of Mississippi. 
The chief characteristics of this period, as they appear in the preceding 
pages, may be summed up as follows: 

First, supreme control in school affairs, except in the matter of 
supervision of the education of the poor and a limited oversight of 
teachers in their work, was in the hands of the township trustees, who 
were elected by the resident heads of families in the respective townships. 

Second, the proceeds from the sixteenth section leases were the 
chief dependence for funds for the erection of schoolhouses and the 
payment of teachers, in so far as public support was concerned. 



ment, and that they will be disposed to harmonize with us in producing results so 
desirable, with little, if any, sacrifice to the general weal; 

"We therefore pray that the refuse lands in the several counties of our state, 
which have, or will have been offered for sale three years, shall thereafter belong to 
the respective counties within which they may be situated, and be subject to be dis- 
posed of by the county poHce of each county, for the sole and only purpose of estabHsh- 
ing and maintaining primary schools in the respective counties." 

' See p. 28. 

2 The advertisements of academies, assuming that the primary departments of 
these schools were co-ordinate with the common schools, indicate that the usual 
curriculum was reading, writing, spelling, and elementary arithmetic. In 1835 the 
Pontotoc Academy includes also grammar in the curriculum of its "primar>' depart- 
ment." In this instance the texts used are given, which were as foUows: Murray's 
Spelling Book, Introduction, English Reader, and Small Grammar; Pike's Arithmetic. 
The academy charged a tuition fee of $2 . 00 a month for this course. {The Mississip- 
pian, September 18, 1835.) 



40 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Third, only in a small proportion of the townships were there suf- 
ficient funds to maintain schools entirely with the public funds, while 
in many townships the school lands did not contribute anything to 
the education of the children. 

Fourth, the inadequacy of the funds thus provided made it neces- 
sary for parents, who had means, to pay tuition rates covering a part 
or all of the expense of educating their children. 

Fifth, from 182 1 to 1839 the state provided for the payment of 
tuition fees of poor children from the Literary Fund. After the funds 
for this purpose were transferred to another object in 1839, some town- 
ships used their sixteenth section funds solely to pay the tuition of poor 
children. 

Sixth, the commissioners who had control of the disposition of the 
money appropriated from the Literary Fund for the education of 
indigent children of their respective counties also had limited super- 
visory powers over the schools of the county. 

Seventh, the state attempted, with the residue of the Literary Fund 
not used for the education of poor children, to build up an endowment 
for common schools. This policy was abandoned when the sum that 
had been accumulated was lost in the failure of the Planters' Bank. 



CHAPTER V 

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION FROM 1846 TO 1860. THE FIRST SCHOOL 
SYSTEM AND THE MULTIPLICATION OF "SYSTEMS" 

AGITATION FOR A COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM 

From the day that Governor Claiborne urged upon the first active 
territorial legislature in 1802 the importance of a "system of public 
education," there were always among the leaders of the people of Missis- 
sippi men who looked forward to the realization of their dreams of a 
well-organized school system. Vague in outline, never wrought out in 
all its details, the vision persisted, leaving its impress upon the speeches 
of political leaders and the papers of public ofiicers. Even in 1833, when 
the legislature (with the governor's approval) was bringing disaster 
upon the common schools. Governor Scott in his message to the legis- 
lature recommended "the propriety .... of immediately, by legisla- 
tive enactment, laying the foundation of a general system of Schools 
and Academies, so organized that the means of instruction may be 
placed within the reach of the poorest of our citizens."^ 

While the legislature apparently ignored this suggestion of the 
governor, its actions doubtless hastened the time when the state should 
attempt to enact a law in accordance with his recommendations. The 
low state to which the common schools were reduced after the loss of the 
Literary Fund and the income from most of the sixteenth sections raised 
the school question to a prominent place in the state campaign of 1843. 
During that campaign Hon. A. G. Brown, the successful candidate for 
governor, advocated a "well regulated system of free schools," saying, 
in an address to the people of the state, "If we are to be taxed for any 
other purposes than the economical support of government, I greatly 
prefer that it shall be for the establishment of schools." He cited 
"the history of New England and her enlightened population," as a 
"most striking commentary on the advantages of the free school system."^ 
In his inaugural address in 1844 Governor Brown repeated his advocacy 
of a free school system, and urged the legislature to pass an act in 
accordance with his views, but without success. During the campaign 
of 1845 he continuously agitated the school question among the people 

' House Journal, 18^3, p. 13. 

2 Cluskey, Speeches, Messages, and Other Writings of A. G. Brown, p. 54. 

41 



42 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

of the state, and was overwhelmingly re-elected on a platform favoring 
a free school system. In his message to the legislature on January 6, 
1846, he repeated his recommendations made to the previous legislature, 
and outlined his plan in considerable detail.' He advocated a school 
system with a state oflScer to be known as the "general school commis- 
sioner" at its head, and with a board of school commissioners in each 
county, who should make semiannual reports to the "general com- 
missioner." He recommended that all fines, forfeitures, and licenses 
for various retail businesses should be set aside for a school fund, to 
which he wished to be added the proceeds from a direct state tax of 
5 per cent of the state and county taxes. From these sources the 
governor estimated that the school fund would receive $75,000 a year. 
He wished this fund to be used to supplement the township funds, 
wherever they were insufficient to maintain a free school for at least 
three months in the year. 

ADOPTION or A SCHOOL SYSTEM; ACT OF 1 846 

After receiving the governor's message the legislature framed and 
passed an act entitled, "An act to establish a system of common schools," 
which the governor approved March 4, 1846.^ The act followed the 
recommendations of the governor as to the general organization of the 
school system, except that it provided that the secretary of state should 
perform the duties of the "general school commissioner." The greater 
part of the power and authority in school matters was taken from the 
township trustees and centered in the county boards of school commis- 
sioners,'' which were made to consist of one member from each of the 
five police districts in each county. The commissioners were to organize 
with a president, -secretary, and treasurer, and were required to hold 
quarterly meetings, receiving such compensation for their services as 
the boards of police of the counties should determine. They were given 
complete control of all school funds, bonds, stocks, notes, etc., held by 
the township trustees, including the sixteenth section funds, but were 
required to keep a separate account with each township of the money 
arising from the sixteenth sections, and use this money only for the 
township to which it belonged. The county school commissioners were 
also to have complete control over their "common school fund," which 
was provided by an appropriation of all fines and the license fees from 

' Cluskey, op. cii., pp. 75-76; Senate Journal, 1846, pp. 23 ff. 
' Laws of Mississippi, 1846, pp. 98-104. 
3 See p. no. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 43 

hawkers, keepers of billiard tables, and retailers of vinous and spirituous 
liquors arising within their respective counties. They should also add 
to this county fund any additional moneys that might accrue from a 
tax which the county boards of police might levy under certain 
conditions. 

The commissioners were required to designate what schools in their 
respective counties should be deemed "common schools," and to have 
general superintendence of them. They were to examine teachers and 
license such as they thought qualified to teach "the various branches of 
an English education in the common schools." They were to make 
contracts with teachers and to pay their salaries from the common 
school fund. Twice each year, in June and December, they were 
required to make a report to the "general school commissioner," showing 
for their respective counties "the situation of schools and school funds; 
the number of scholars attending school; the number of teachers, and 
the amount paid to teachers out of the sixteenth section fund, the common 
school fund, and by private individuals." 

The secretary of state as ex officio "general school commissioner," 
was required to preserve the reports of the county commissioners, and 
to publish in January and July of each year abstracts summarizing the 
educational work of the state as a whole. For these services he was 
allowed an additional compensation of $500 a year. 

The news that Mississippi had adopted a uniform system of common 
schools was received with general rejoicing throughout the state. When 
the details of the act became known, however, there was an evident 
revulsion of feeling.' Those who had most warmly advocated a common 
school system felt that the usefulness of the act was practically destroyed 
by the weakness of two sections. Section 6, which purported to provide 
for a direct tax for the benefit of the common schools, as Governor 
Brown had recommended, was found only to authorize the boards of 
police to levy a tax, if they chose to do so, in their respective counties. 
This permissive levy could not exceed the state tax for general purposes, 
which was two and one-half mills. To make the situation worse the 
boards of police were hampered by a proviso which read as follows: 

The consent of a majority of the resident heads of families in each township 
shall be filed in writing and recorded on the minutes of said board, before 
such tax shall be levied on the inhabitants of each township. 

The other point of weakness was in a proviso attached to section 12. 
It permitted any township to be exempted from the provisions of the 

' "Report of General School Commissioner," House Journal, 1848, pp. 103&-36. 



44 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

entire act by a majority of the heads of families filing their protest 
with the clerk of the board of police in their respective counties on or 
before the first day of March in each year. Such a protest having been 
filed, the board of trustees of the protesting township was entitled to 
control and manage the funds arising from the lease of the sixteenth 
section of the township under the laws already existing before the 
passage of this act. 

It is clear that because of these provisos there was the probability 
that, instead of establishing a uniform system of common schools, the 
act would bring into the school management greater variance than had 
existed before. It was possible for one county to have three different 
schemes in operation at the same time, if the board of police should 
choose to levy the tax that was permitted. Some townships would 
probably accept the tax; others might accept the new plan of organiza- 
tion of the school work, but withhold their consent to the tax levy; and 
a third group might protest the act entirely and continue to operate 
under the previous laws, with the township trustees in full authority. 

When the legislature assembled in 1848 the governor submitted the 
report of the general school commissioner, which showed that most of 
the county school commissioners had failed to make the reports to him 
that were required by the law. There was no penalty for failure to 
report. The reports that were sent in showed general lack of confidence 
in the law and opposition to it. Only a few schools had been established 
under the act — three in Hinds County, three in Holmes, two in Leake, 
two in Lowndes, none in Covington, etc. Some townships had protested. 
In many places nothing had been done to put the act into operation.^ 

In his message to the legislature Governor Brown stated that the 
common school law had not fulfilled the anticipations of its friends, and 
recommended its immediate repeal and the substitution of an act more 
in accord with his message at the opening of the session of 1846.^ A 
bill was introduced into the House to amend the act of 1846 and was 
referred to the committee on education. The committee apparently 
could not agree upon a bill, and finally asked the House for instructions 
as to whether a state tax should be included. The House then instructed 
the committee to report a bill providing for a tax for common schools 
of not less than 25 per cent of the state tax.^ The committee failed to 
report the bill and asked to be relieved of further consideration of the 
matter. The bill was then referred to a select committee which made 

' House Journal, 1848, pp. 1030-36. 

^ Ibid., p. 26. 3 Ibid., pp. 579, 658. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 



45 




n Compulsory tax— township control. [m Act of 1846 without amendment permissive tax- 

^'c™ntrlr ^^^ ^'"^'"^ repeated-county M i„^°pendent"township control-no Ux. 
B Uselof county fund for orphans and poor — no tax — county control. 

Common School Map of Mississippi in 1848 



46 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

a hostile report, saying it was their "firm conviction that the main 
features of the act of March 4, 1846, are clearly unconstitutional; 
that no legislative enactment is legal or constitutional which has for 
its object the taking out of the hands and control of the trustees of 
townships and the heads of families of townships the funds arising from 
the sale of the sixteenth sections to invest in any other person or persons 
than those elected by the heads of families of the respective townships." 
The committee also pronounced the law "irregular, impracticable, and 
not susceptible of general operation, and consequently of no public 
utility."' Worse than all this, the committee failed to suggest anything 
better than the law it criticized. 

THE MULTIPLICATION OF SYSTEMS 

The legislature, it appears, then abandoned the attempt to construct 
a law that would be satisfactory to the state as a whole and entered 
upon a policy of enacting separate laws for different sections of the 
state. For Clarke, Jasper, Lauderdale, Harrison, Hancock, and Copiah 
counties it amended the act of 1846 by striking out the objectional 
proviso of section 6, thus permitting the boards of police in these counties 
to levy a school tax on their own initiative.^ For the counties of 
Marshall, Adams, Chickasaw, Lafayette, and Tippah the act was 
amended in the opposite direction. Assuming, evidently, that the 
school tax would not be levied in these counties, the school commissioners 
were not required to maintain free schools, but were authorized to use 
their distributive share of the state school fund and any other school 
revenue that might come into their hands for the education of children 
of the county, who were "from any cause deprived of the means of an 
education."^ A third act was passed, and made applicable to the 
counties of Hinds, Holmes, Tunica, Jefferson, Wilkinson, Lawrence, 
and Amite. This act followed Governor Brown's recommendation to 
the extent that it repealed the act of 1846 and substituted a better one, 
in so far as these seven counties were concerned." Under this act the 
assessment of a special school tax of 25 per cent of the state tax was 
made obligatory upon the boards of police. ^ The act provided for 
completely organized county systems under the supervision of county 
superintendents, who were required to visit each school in their counties 

' House Journal, 1848, p. 937. 

^ Laws of Mississippi, 1848, pp. 143-44. 

3 Ihid., pp. 145-47. 1 1bid., pp. 185-96. 

5 Except for Wilkinson and Jefferson, where it was discretionary. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 47 

once in three months. The county superintendent also examined and 
licensed teachers. The townships were divided into districts, to contain 
"not less than twenty youth," but sparsely settled townships might 
constitute one district, or even unite with other townships to form a 
district. Under this act, it is said, that schools were maintained in 
some instances for ten months in the year without tuition charges.' 
Such schools probably were rare, but there seems to be little doubt that 
the school situation in this group of counties was fairly satisfactory. 
In a fourth act the legislature repealed the act of 1846 so far as it related 
to sixteen counties of the state and restored the conditions prior to 1846, 
except that the provision for county school funds from fines and license 
fees was retained.^ In other words, these sixteen counties returned to 
the plan of local control of schools through the township trustees. The 
remaining counties of the state were left to operate their schools under 
the act of 1846 without amendment.^ The uniform school system had 
been replaced by five distinct systems, if the word system may be 
applied to the counties in which the individual townships were inde- 
pendent of all outside control." 

Thus was begun a series of special acts upon the organization of 
the common schools which in a few years left Mississippi with a bewilder- 
ing maze of "school systems," large and small. Groups of counties, 
single counties, single townships, and even municipalities were organized 
into distinct school systems. The legislature of 1850 passed twenty-four 
acts of this nature; of 1852, twenty; of 1854, sixteen; and by i860 
the total special legislation on the subject was expressed in one hundred 
and twenty-five acts, counting the shreds of the original act of 1846, 
which was still in force in some counties. 

Some idea of the multiplicity of the legislation of common schools 
may be obtained by tracing the several acts in the interest of one county. 
The county of Copiah cannot be classed among the most progressive 
school counties of the period, nor was it one of the laggards. It did 

' Timberlake, "Did the Reconstruction Give Mississippi Her Public Schools?" 
Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, XII, 79-80. Miss Timberlake 
quotes statements of ante-bellum teachers living at the time she wrote. 

^ These counties were Noxubee, Lowndes, Yalobusha, Winston, Covington, 
Jefferson, Neshoba, Scott, Newton, Madison, BoUvar, Carroll, Sunflower, Talla- 
hatchie, Claiborne, and Kemper. Laws of Mississippi, 1848, pp. 201-4. 

3 An exception should be made of Marion County, for which a special act so 
amended the law of i8j6 as to restrict the use of the common school fund to the 
education of poor children. Laws of Mississippi, 1848, pp. 199-201. 

■* See Common School Map of Mississippi in 1848, p. 45. 



48 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

not make more vital changes in its school laws than some of the other 
counties/ but is equalled by only one other county in the number of 
acts relative to its schools. It was one of the counties left by the legisla- 
ture of 1848 under the school law of 1846 so amended that the objection- 
able proviso of section 6 was removed. In other words the machinery 
and provisions of the general school system were left intact, and the 
board of police was free to supplement the county school funds arising 
from fines, license fees, etc., with a tax levy not to exceed two and 
one-half mills. 

After four years under the amended act the county secured a further 
amendment, by which the method of distributing the county school fund 
was changed.^' This amendment contained a provision exempting any 
township from its provisions in which a majority of the voters should 
file a written protest by the first Monday in January, 1853. We are 
informed in the preamble of an act passed in 1854 that some townships 
had availed themselves of their privilege of rejecting the amendment of 
1852, but had repented of this action. It was therefore enacted that 
townships which had protested the act might come back under its 
provisions by fiUng a written petition to that effect, signed by a majority 
of the voters.^ The legislature of 1854 also passed an act "providing 
the manner in which teachers of common schools in the county of 
Copiah" should present their claims to the school commissioners.'' 

The acts thus far noted were all in effect amendments to the act of 
1846, and the county was still nominally under the general school 
system. In 1858 it was given a school system of its own under the 
title, "An act to estabhsh a system of common schools in Copiah county. "s 
This act was to become effective as soon as it should be ascertained that 
"a majority of the voters of the said county are in favor of taxation for 
the support of schools," and it provided for an election to be held to 
determine the attitude of the people. The act, if it should be approved 
by the people, required that the board of police should levy a tax sufficient 
to cover cost of tuition for every child between the ages of six and 
twenty-one years, at the rate of ten cents a day. It provided also that 
teachers should be examined and licensed, if found competent to teach 
speUing, reading, writing, geography, and EngUsh grammar, and if 
morally qualified. An amendatory act, passed at the same session, 

' Franklin County holds the record for important changes in her school laws 
during this period, and equals Copiah in the number of acts. 
* Laws of Mississippi, 1852, pp. 313-15. 
3 Ibid., 1854, p. 382. * Ibid., p. 398. s Ibid., pp. 94-99- 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 49 

made the compensation of the county school commissioners the same 
as that provided for the members of the board of police.' The people 
of the county voted their approval of the school tax and the law became 
effective. The board of police levied a tax equal to the total state tax.^ 
The tax seems to have been too heavy to meet general approval, for 
the following year the legislature repealed "the common school law of 
Copiah county," and revived the laws prior to the passage of that act.^ 
The repealing act levied a tax of 50 per cent of the state tax on the 
county for the county school fund, thus cutting in half the levy made by 
the county board of police. 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SPECIAL ACTS ON COMMON SCHOOLS 

It is difficult to make any very satisfactory analysis of the numerous 
special school acts for counties, townships, and municipalities enacted 
during the final decade covered by this study. The acts vary in several 
important particulars and in a large number of minor details. Further- 
more, all possible combinations appear to have been made as to the 
variations in the more important matters. It is possible, however, to 
discover one almost constant characteristic in the different county 
systems, and to note the attitude of the several counties, often varying 
in the same county during the decade, toward some of the major points 
upon which they disagreed. 

The one point which practically all counties of the state had in 
common as a part of their school law was the appropriation of all revenue 
arising in the several counties from fines, forfeitures, and certain license 
fees to the common schools. There were a few exceptions to even this 
generalization. In one county this revenue prior to 1857 was appropri- 
ated to an orphan asylum,^ and in another a part of it was for a time 
devoted to a library association.^ A few counties for a part of the time 
assigned a part or all of the money from these sources to academies.^ 
The exceptions, however, are so few that it may be considered the 
general policy of the state to appropriate all revenue from the sources 
named to common schools in the counties in which the revenue had its 
origin. So generally was this accepted that when the commissioners 
appointed "to revise, digest, and codify the laws of this State, and to 

' Ibid., 1858, p. 148. 3 Ibid. 

* Ibid., 1859, pp. 72-73. 4 See p. 96. 

5 In Yazoo City, 1846-57. Laws of Mississippi, 1846, p. 231. 

* See p. 125. 



50 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

propose such alterations or amendments thereof, and such new laws, 
as they might deem expedient," made their report in the form of the 
Revised Code of 1857, they omitted from the new code all reference to 
common schools except the following article: 

The moneys arising from fines, forfeitures, and amercements, and from 
licenses that may be granted to alleys, hawkers, and peddlers, and to retailers 
of vinous or spirituous liquors, that are, or may be made, by law, payable into 
the county or state treasuries; and aU moneys, after defraying costs, that 
shaU arise from sales of estrays and runaway slaves, and which shall not be 
claimed by the owners thereof within the time limited by law, — shall be 
appropriated by the boards of police of the counties respectively, to the use 
and benefit of common or free schools, in their said counties, according to the 
laws now in force in said counties respectively; Provided, that when there shall 
be no such schools in a county, nor any law estabUshing such schools in said 
county, then said moneys may be appropriated to such county purposes as the 
board of police thereof may direct.^ 

There were four important points upon which the counties differed 
radically in their school laws. These points of diasgreement were 
concerned with the following questions: (i) the control of schools and 
school funds; (2) the method of distributing county funds; (3) whether 
or not there should be direct taxation for common schools, and, if so, 
the amount of the tax; (4) the manner in which the school funds should 
be applied. 

It has been shown that the control of common schools prior to 
1846 had been completely in the hands of township trustees, and that 
the common school act of 1846 transferred control to the county com- 
missioners, except in such townships as should reject the act creating 
the common school system. There was a marked tendency from 1848 
to i860 to return the authority to the township trustees. Of the sixty 
counties^ in the state at this time about one-half had returned to 
township control by 1860.^ 

The existence of a county school fund arising from fines, forfeitures, 
and license fees in nearly all of the counties made it necessary that ways 
and means should be found for handling this fund and distributing 
it to the townships in those counties which returned to the township 
plan of control. In some of these counties the commissioners of educa- 
tion were retained, apparently, for the sole purpose of distributing the 

' Revised Code of the Statute Laws of the State of Mississippi, 1857, p. 367. 
= Fifty-nine counties in 1848, but Calhoun was added to the list in 1852. 
3 See p. III. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 51 

county funds to the township trustees.' In other counties this duty 
was imposed upon the board of police. The basis of distribution also 
varied. In some counties each township was given an equal share;* 
in others, each township received a sum proportionate to its number of 
educable children; and in still others the county funds were so distrib- 
uted as to equalize the educational opportunities of the several town- 
ships — a larger portion being given to townships without sixteenth 
section funds, and a smaller share in proportion to the increase in size 
of that fund. One county distributed its fund only to the townships 
which levied a direct tax sufficient to "maintain a free school twelve 
months or less."^ 

Upon the question of a direct tax for the support of common schools 
the legislation of the period provided in most counties for a permissive 
tax of 25 per cent of the state tax.t In a number of the counties there 
was a compulsory county tax, and in a few counties a permissive township 
tax, which was sometimes supplementary to a county tax. 

There were two points upon which the counties could not agree as 
to the application of the county school funds: (i) whether the funds 
should be expended annually as they were received or be retained as a 
county endowment fund, the interest upon the fund alone being used 
for the schools; (2) for what purpose, whether principal or interest, 
the school fund should be used. As a rule it was only the poorer and 
most sparsely settled counties that adopted the plan of using the school 
fund as an endowment.^ Upon the question of the purpose for which 
the funds should be used the counties may be divided into four classes: 
(i) those in which the matter was left to the judgment of the township 
trustees; (2) those in which the state law prescribed that the funds should 
be used for paying the tuition of orphans and indigent children; (3) 
those in which it was apportioned among the educable children in 
proportion to the number of days they attended school; and (4) those 
in which it was used to pay the salaries of teachers of public schools. 
Most of the counties maintaining the public schools had provisions in 
the school law that if the public funds were insufficient to maintain the 
schools they should be supplemented by subscriptions or tuition rates. ^ 

' See chapter on administration, pp. 110-12. 

2 Laws of Mississippi, 1854, pp. 349, 458; 1856, p. 109. 

3 Franklin County, Laws of Mississippi, 1854, pp. 527-28. 

< See table on p. 121. s See list of these counties in footnote on p. 119. 

* Exceptions to this are the acts establishing "systems" for the counties of 
Yazoo (Laws of Mississippi, 1850, pp. 145-46), Holmes (Laws of Mississippi, 1850, 
pp. 160-67), Tishomingo and Itawamba (Laws of Mississippi, 1854, pp. 474-79), 
and Copiah (Laws of Mississippi, 1858, pp. 96-99). 



52 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

TABLE in 

Purposes for Which County School Funds Were Used 



Counties 


Left to 
Township 
Trustees 


Tuition of 
Orphans and 
Poor Children 


Apportioned 

to Educable 

Children 


To Maintain 
Public Schools 




1850- 


1848-50 






Amite 




1848- 


Attala 






1850- 


1848-50 




1848- 








1856-59 


1859- 






1848- 






1848- 
1856-59 






Choctaw* 


1850-56 
1848-50 


1859- 


(1848-50) 


Claiborne 


1850- 


Clarke 


1859- 




1848-59 


Coahoma 






(1848-60); 1860- 


Copiah . . 






i852-58;i859- 


(1848-52); 1858-59 


De Soto 


1848-56 


1856- 
1852-54 




Franklin 


1858- 


(1848-52); 1854-58 


Greene t 




(1848-58) 


Hancock 








(1848-54); 1854- 


Harrison 








(1848-) 


Hinds . 








1848- 


Holmes 








1848- 


Issaquena 


1852- 






(1848-52) 


Itawamba 


1856- 




(1848-56) 


Jackson ... 






(1848-) 


Tasper. . . 


1852-59 


1859- 
1852- 




(1848-52) 


Jefferson 




1848-52 


Jones J 






(1848-52) 


Kemper 


1848- 








Lafayette. ... . . 


1848-59 


1859- 




Lauderdale 




(1848-50); 1850- 


Lawrence 




1850- 




1848-50 


Leake 






(1848-) 


Lowndes 


1848- 
1848-50 








Madison .... 






1850- 


Marion 


i848-54;i858- 
1859- 


1856-57 


(1854-56) 


Marshall. . 


1848-59 

1850- 

1848-60 

1848-52 

1848- 

1852-56 




Monroe 




(1848-50) 


Neshoba 




1860- 




Newton 




1852- 


Noxubee 








Oktibbeha . 


1856- 
1856-59 




(1848-52) 


Panola 


1859- 


(1848-56) 


Perry§ 




(1848-58) 


Pike 






1854- 


(1848-54) 


Pontotoc 


1848-56 

1850- 

1848-50 


1856- 




Rankin 




(1848-50) 


Scott 




i85c^ 




Simpson 




(1848-56): 1856- 


Smith 








(1848-58); 1858- 


Sunflower 


1848-60 
1848-56 






1860- 


Tallahatchie 


1856- 

1848-59 

1856-59 






Tippahll 


1859- 
1859- 




Tishomingo 




(1848-54); 1854-56 









ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 
TABLE III— Continued 



53 



Counties 


Left to 
Township 
Trustees 


Tuition of 
Orphans and 
Poor Children 


Apportioned 

to Educable 

Children 


To Maintain 
Public Schools 


Tunica 1[ 






1850- 
1850- 


1848-50 


Warren 






(1848-50) 


Wayne 






(1848-50); 1850- 


Wilkinson** 






1850-52 


1848-50; 1852- 


Winston 


1848- 

1848-52 

1848-50 






Yalobushaft 


1856- 






Yazoo 




l85C^ 









* Dates in parentheses in last column indicate period county was operating under act of 1846. 

t After 1858 schools in Greene were controlled by boards of trustees for each of the five police districts 
of the county, who determined how the funds should be applied. 

t After 1850 county commissioners in Jones County were required to lend funds, both principal and 
interest, as it accrued until interest got large enough to establish one free school in each police district. 
Laws of Mississippi, 1850, pp. 226-28. 

§ Funds to be applied by three trustees in each police district as they "think best." Laws of Mis- 
sissippi, 1858, pp. 184-85. 

1 1 Trustees were required to invest funds in railroad stock, and use dividends only for schools. Laws 
of Mississippi, 1852, pp. 93-94. 

H Funds to be apportioned after 1850 to those only who expressed a desire to benefit from them. 
** From 1850 to 1852 funds apportioned to those who apply for them. 
tt School fund, principal and interest, lent as it came in from 1852 to 1856. 

In Table- III the use to which the county school funds were put in 
the several counties is shown for the twelve years following 1848. 
Counties in which the law provided that the funds should be used to 
pay teachers' salaries of public schools may be divided into two classes — 
those operating under special county acts and those under the common 
school act of 1846. It is impossible to ascertain what proportion of the 
townships in the latter group of counties had used their legal power to 
nullify the act of 1846 and thus take to themselves the power to control 
their funds in their own way. These counties are distinguished from 
those operating under special county acts by putting parentheses around 
the dates representing a period during which the act of 1846 was opera- 
tive in each county that remained under that act after 1848. 

In addition to the chief points of disagreement upon school laws 
among the counties that have been discussed, there are a few other 
topics touched upon now and then that deserve mention here. As to 
the question of licensing teachers and supervising schools there is little 
to be found in the special acts of the period. The tendency, apparently, 
was to trust to local trustees to determine the fitness of teachers, and 
little or no supervision was provided.' 

There is also little in the legislation from 1846 to i860 to indicate 
the curriculum of the common schools. As a rule the legislators assumed 

' See chapter on administration and supervision, p. 113. 



54 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

that it was generally understood what they meant by the "common 
English branches," or "the rudiments of an English education." The 
few cases in which the curriculum is mentioned more concretely indicate 
that there had been no change from the old formal course of the three 
R's, except that the addition of spelling and English grammar to the 
elementary curriculum was more generally recognized, and that geog- 
raphy was coming to be regarded as an elementary subject. The act of 
1848, providing for a school system for seven counties, which has been 
referred to several times in this chapter, required teachers to be qualified 
to teach at least "reading, writing, and arithmetic," and provided 
that they might teach other subjects, not specified, provided they were 
examined in these additional subjects by the county superintendent and 
the fact of their competency in these additional subjects was written 
into their license. In an act passed in 1850 the legislature defined a 
common school as "a school for teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, 
and English grammar," but the act applied only to the county of Holmes.^ 
In 1858 a slightly extended list of common school studies was given 
by the legislature, which curiously enough omitted arithmetic. The 
studies listed were "spelling, reading, writing, geography, and English 
grammar."^ 

LEGISLATION FOR TOWNSHIPS 

We have considered thus far the legislation from 1848 to i860 as it 
applied to counties and to groups of counties. It is necessary to consider 
briefly how this legislation affected the townships in respect to their 
sixteenth sections, and also to note a number of special acts for particular 
townships. 

It will be recalled that when the common school system of 1846 
was adopted the general management of the sixteenth sections and the 
sixteenth section funds was taken from the township trustees and given 
to the county commissioners. The act provided, however, that the 
income from any given sixteenth section or sixteenth section fund must 
be expended in the township to which the section or fund belonged.^ 
This principle, it appears, was observed in all the legislation of the 
period which left the control of schools and school lands in the hands of 
county commissioners of education or boards of police. In all cases 
where the control of schools was returned to the township trustees, these 
trustees also resumed their authority over the township school lands 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1850, p. 165. 

* Ibid., 1858, pp. 94-99. 5 See p. 42 of this chapter. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 55 

or school funds. The act of 1833, permitting the leasing of school lands 
for ninety-nine years, was not repealed by the common school law in 
1846,' nor was it changed materially by any of the special legislation that 
followed.^ 

There are several instances where the legislature indicates its res- 
ponsiveness to local wishes in respect to schools either by exempting a 
township from the provisions of a general county act or by enacting a 
special act for a township. An act of March 3, 1850, extended the 
Holmes County school law to Yazoo County, but excepted township 12, 
range 2, west.^ Similarly, townships 16, range 3, east, and 17, range 5, 
east, were excepted from laws applying to Warren County."* Town- 
ship 6, range 2, west, in Hinds County and township 10, range i, east, 
in Yazoo County were also favored with special acts. The act for the 
township in Hinds County, however, was repealed in 1856.5 In all 
cases the eflfect of these special acts was to set up an independent town- 
ship school or group of schools entirely under the authority of the 
township trustees. The two townships mentioned in Warren County 
were authorized to levy a special tax for the township schools, provided 
there should be a favorable vote in the referendum election required in the 
acts.^ The act relative to township 17, range 5, east, contains the 
information that there were three schools maintained by the township. 

SOME CAUSES OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM 

The breaking up of the common school system of Mississippi was 
brought about by several factors. In the first place, the legislature of 
1846 was lukewarm over the project, and passed an act that could satisfy 
neither friend nor foe. Then in 1848 Governor Brown was sent to 
Congress, thus removing from state politics the strongest influence for 
the uniform system. Brown's term as governor expired in January, 
1848, before the legislature passed any of its series of acts on common 
schools. A more fundamental factor in producing the dissolution of the 

' Sec. 10 of the act made it the duty of the county commissioners to lease sections 
that had not been leased as then "directed by law." Laws of Mississippi, 1846, p. 100 . 

' Marion County is an exception to this statement. In 1857 an act "to amend the 
school laws of Marion County" limited the term for which school lands might be 
leased to twenty years. The following year, however, it was extended to one hundred 
years. Laws of Mississippi, 1857, pp. 11 5-19; 1858, p. 149. 

3 Laws of Mississippi, 1848, pp. 156. ■* Ibid., 1850, pp. 149, 159. 

i Ibid., 1854, pp. 260-61; 1856, p. 367; 1850, pp. 469-74- 

^ Ibid., 1852, pp. 190-91; i860, pp. 365-66. 



56 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

State system was the lack of homogeneity among the counties of the 
state. There was considerable variation in the density of population 
and the wealth of the different counties and the different sections of 
the state.' In some counties there were villages and towns; in others, 
there were only the broad, spreading, cotton plantations, with perhaps 
a hamlet of a dozen homes clustered around the county court-house. 
The people of some counties evidently had advanced ideas concerning 
public education; those of other counties clung tenaciously to their 
preference for private schools, in which they were wilHng to have the 
children of the poor educated at public expense. Another important 
factor that militated against the uniform system was the intense demo- 
cratic feeUng of the state. There was prevalent that type of democracy 
that sets itself against any tendency toward the centralization of 
authority and strives to retain the greatest possible degree of power in 
the hands of local communities. Even so progressive a county as 
Warren, containing within its borders the town of Vicksburg, secured a 
special act from the legislature in 1850, in which it was declared: 

It is the intention of this act to give the different townships full and entire 
control, through their five trustees so elected, to manage their schools in their 
own way.^ 

THE CHICKASAW COUNTIES 

One source of opposition to a common school system, apparently, is 
to be found in the group of counties formed from the Chickasaw cession. 
The prevailing idea as to common schools in this group of counties was 
that the state had no rights or obligations in the premises other than to 
provide for the education of orphans and indigent children. The only 
common school act, if it is permissible to use the term to designate it, 
after 1850 that involved any large group of counties, was the act passed 
in 1856 to establish a uniform school policy for the counties of Tippah, 
Marshall, De Soto, Lafayette, Pontotoc, Itawamba, Tishomingo, 
Chickasaw, Oktibbeha, Calhoun, Choctaw, and Yalobusha, under the 
title, "An act to secure the interest on the school funds belonging to the 
counties embraced in the Chickasaw cession, and for other purposes."^ 
The provisions of the act were extended in 1858 to the counties of 
Tallahatchie and Panola.^ This act of 1856 provided that in the counties 
named the county school commissioners should employ the county school 

' See Table II, chap. i. 

'Laws of Mississippi, 1850 (Regular Session), p. 157. 
3 Ihid., 1856, pp. 81-86. " Ihid., 1858, p. 133. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 57 

funds from escheats, fines, and the usual hcense fees, together with the 
county's pro rata of the interest from the Chickasaw fund, for paying 
the tuition of poor children, giving preference to destitute orphans. 

The chief reasons for the failure of these counties to provide for 
common schools, supported wholly or in part at public expense, seem 
to lie in the character of the settlers and in the plan adopted by the 
federal government in its donation of public lands for school purposes in 
these counties. The Chickasaw lands were opened for settlement in 
1836. A flood of immigrants from the South Atlantic states and 
Tennessee rapidly populated the new country, bringing with them the 
educational ideas of these states at that time. These people had no 
acquaintance with publicly supported free schools, or even with the 
Mississippi township school, partly supported by its sixteenth section, 
and frequently supplemented by other public funds. 

The failure of the general government to reserve the sixteenth sections 
in the Chickasaw cession took away an incentive that might have done 
much to develop the ideal of the township public school in the counties 
carved from this cession. In lieu of the sixteenth sections. Congress 
granted to the state for the endowment of pubHc education in the Chicka- 
saw territory public lands within the state equal in area to one thirty- 
sixth of the area of the Chickasaw country.^ Several years passed, 
however, before the lands were selected and accepted by the state. ^ 
In 1854 these lands were ordered sold by the state government and the 
sale was approved by Congress.^ In 1856 the state borrowed the pro- 
ceeds of the sale at 8 per cent, and ordered the interest prorated to the 
Chickasaw counties in proportion to their area.'' Thus it was twenty 
years after the opening of this section of the state for settlement before 
the school lands brought in an appreciable income for educational 
purposes. 

TOWN AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS 

Mississippi had no cities within her borders prior to the Civil War. 
Natchez and Vicksburg were her largest towns. In both of these towns, 
and in several others, common schools were maintained either under 
provisions in the charter of the town or under special enactments of the 
legislature. 

The earhest free school in the state was in a sense a township school, 
but was located in the town of Columbus and eventually became the 

' United States Statutes at Large, V, 116. 

' See further discussion of Chickasaw lands and fund, pp. 11 5-1 6. 

3 Laws of Mississippi, 1854, p. 348. 4 Ibid., 1856, p. 141. 



58 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

city school. This httle town was so fortunate from an educational 
standpoint as to be located partly on the sixteenth section of its township. 
The school land was divided into town lots and leased for ninety-nine 
years, a portion at a time as the town developed. With the proceeds 
a free school with both elementary and secondary courses has been 
maintained since 1 82 1 . The school was chartered as Franklin Academy.' 
After 1 83 1 the trustees were elected annually by the qualified electors of 
the township.^ 

A free school has also been maintained in Jackson since 1845. 
Originally the school was the preparatory department of Jackson College 
and was for boys only. The charter of the college begins with a preamble 
explaining the origin of the school, which reads as follows: 

Whereas, during the year 1845, a school was commenced in the city of 
Jackson, in which are taught the various branches of a collegiate education, 
under the superintendence of the governor and chief officers of the state, and 
the mayor and selectmen of the city, as the acknowledged visitors thereof, 
and by the liberality and active exertions of many of its citizens, all boys who are 
learning the elementary branches of an English education may be taught the 
same in the preparatory department in said school free of charge, etc.* 

In 1846 the legislature donated to the city of Jackson certain lots for 
school purposes to be managed by a board of trustees consisting of 
seven citizens, who were required to erect thereon two substantial 
brick buildings to be known as the Jackson Male Academy and the 
Jackson Female Academy. These schools were to become free schools 
whenever the citizens and authorities should desire and should provide 
means for sustaining them.'' Just when the city authorities assumed 
the responsibility of maintaining the schools has not been ascertained, 
but there is evidence that the town was maintaining a free school in 
1850, and had for its principal a native Mississippian who had graduated 
from Harvard. 5 

Natchez was the oldest and largest town in Mississippi in the ante- 
bellum days, and had what was probably the best public free school. 
The citizens of the town established the school in 1845, and in the follow- 
ing year secured an amendment to the city charter, authorizing a tax 
levy not to exceed $10,000 per annum for the support of the school.^ 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1821, pp. 73-75. 

' Ibid., 1831, p. 120. 3 Ibid., 1846, p. 419. ^ Ibid., 1846, p. 359. 

5 Timberlake, op. cit., p. 79. 

^Laws of Mississippi, 1846, pp. 279-80. In his report to Governor Brown in 
1848 relative to the proposed state teachers' normal. Judge J. S. B. Thatcher gives 
the following interesting account of this school: 

"On the fourth of July, 1845, the citizens of Natchez established a system of 
pubUc schools for all the free white children over five years of age, within the limits 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 59 

Vicksburg also had a flourishing school as early as 1848 with 
Dr. J. G. Holland, later editor of Scribner's Magazine, as principal.' 
The school was supported by a tax levy, authorized in 1848 by a special 
tax levy for the township in which the town was located.^ Nominally 
the school was a township school, but was located in the town, and 
was generally looked upon as the school of the municipality. The tax 
levy for its support in 1849 amounted to $5,000.'' 

That a common school was already established in the town of 
Woodville in 1850 is indicated by the act of the legislature passed in that 
year under the title, "An act to provide for the common school within 
the corporation of the town of Woodville." This act provided that all 
license fees from brokers and liquor retailers within the town should be 
appropriated "exclusively for common school purposes within said 
corporation of Woodville."'' 

The town of Shieldsborough, in Hancock County, in 1852 was given 
an independent school "system," with the president and select men of 
the town as a board of trustees. A fund for the support of the school was 
created by appropriating all funds arising within the town from licenses 
to saloons, billiard halls, hawkers, and peddlers. The president and 
selectmen were authorized to levy a school tax not to exceed 50 per 
cent of the state tax, whenever a majority of the freeholders should 
petition for it.s The tax was probably approved, for two years later 
an amendment to the act provided that the school should be free to 
all children over five and under eighteen years of age.^ 

For the other small towns of the state there was no special school 
legislation, except for the academies which were located in many of them. 



of the city. These schools are conducted by a board of seven visitors, a principal, and 
thirteen teachers, including a teacher of writing. The course of education embraces, 
besides the common branches, those of a higher order required for admission into the 
first universities of the Union. Since the commencement of the school there have been 
admitted 829 pupils, male and female, and 75 have been discharged to seek admission 
into colleges and counting houses, and to pursue trades and other avocations in life. 
The result of this experiment has been to fasten the system upon the affection of the 
people, and to induce them to ingraft into the charter of their corporation a provision 
requiring the annual levy, by taxation, of a sum not greater than $10,000 for the 
support of this system of education. It is not hazarding too much to assert that 
these schools will compare favorably with any other public schools, or any academies of 
like grade, in the United States." House Journal, 1848, p. 41. 

' Timberlake, op. cit., p. 78. t Laws of Mississippi, 1850, p. 131. 

^ Laws of Mississippi, 1848, pp. 196-98. s Ibid., 1852, pp. 486-90. 

3 Timberlake, op. cit., p. 78. ' Ibid., 1854, pp. 324-25. 



6o 



EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 



These municipalities, apparently, were content to operate their common 
schools under the laws relative to their counties. 

COMMON SCHOOL STATUS AT THE END OF THE PERIOD 

Notwithstanding the handicap under which Mississippi labored both 
on account of her sparse population and on account of the disorganized 
condition of her educational affairs, noteworthy progress was made from 
1850 to i860. A state appropriation of $300,000, which was distributed 
to the counties for common schools on conditions which required the 
raising of $75,000 from county school levies within the counties receiving 
the state funds, must have given a considerable impetus to the schools.' 
According to the United States census of i860 there were then in Missis- 
sippi 1,116 public schools with 1,215 teachers, and an annual income of 
$385,679. Of this amount, the census report states that $21,225 came 
from endowment, $29,689 from school taxes, $107,947 from public 
funds, and $226, 818 from "other sources" not named.^ 

A more accurate conception of Mississippi's status from a common 
school standpoint can be obtained by a comparison with other states, 
such as is given in Table IV. The states of Illinois and Indiana were 

TABLE IV 

Comparative Status of Common Schools in Illinois, Indiana, and 
Mississippi in i860 



Basis of Comparison 



White children per 1,000 population in all schools 

White children per i ,000 population in public schools . 

PubHc school income per 1,000 population 

White illiterates over twenty years of age per 1,000 
population 



Illinois 



236 

253* 

$1,277 

34 



Indiana 



249 
217 
$508 

46 



Mississippi 



192 

89 

^1,114 

44 



* There is an evident discrepancy in the census figures for Illinois. More pupils are reported in 
the public schools than in all schools. 

chosen because they represent the northwest and Mississippi the south- 
west, and because they were organized as American territory only eleven 
years earlier than Mississippi, and were admitted as states, one the 
year before and the other the year after Mississippi attained statehood. 
The figures in the table are based upon the United States census reports 
for 1860.5 If these figures are at all accurate, Mississippi was expending 

' See chapter XI on federal and state aid to education. 

2 Census of the United States, The Eighth: i860, volume on "Population," p. 276, 
and on "Mortality and Miscellaneous," p. 506. 

3 Census Report, op. cit. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, 1846-1860 6l 

a reasonable sum on her public schools/ but was sending most of her 
boys and girls to private institutions or providing instructors in their 
homes. She was spending more than twice as much as Indiana, and 
nearly as much as Illinois, in proportion to white population for her 
public schools, but had little more than a third as many children in these 
schools. On the other hand, there were a considerably larger number 
enrolled in private schools than in the public schools. The smallness of 
Mississippi's total number of children enrolled in all schools is due in part 
to the habit wealthier planters had of employing a governess for the 
instruction of their smaller children in the home and of sending their 
older children out of the state for their education.^ The figures given 
in the census reports are doubtless open to the charge of inaccuracy, but 
they are the most reliable that are available, and probably indicate in a 
general way the real situation. 

' By public school is meant any unincorporated school wholly or partially sup- 
ported by public funds. 

' Rowland, Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, I, 963. 



CHAPTER VI 

SECONDARY EDUCATION FROM 1817 TO 1860. THE 
MISSISSIPPI ACADEMIES 

THE INCORPORATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF ACADEMIES 

Legislation relative to secondary education in Mississippi from 
1 817 to i860 dealt chiefly with the incorporation of private academies 
and similar institutions of learning. Six of the academies incorporated 
while Mississippi was a territory were within the limits of the state. 
During the first thirteen years of statehood, a period of comparatively 
slow growth in white population, twenty-one additional academies 
were chartered, if we include Hancock College, an institution located 
in Shieldsborough and sometimes called Shieldsborough Academy.' 
The charter of Hancock College did not permit the granting of degrees 
or diplomas, and the institution was apparently an academy except in 
name.^ 

From 1 83 1 to 1840, inclusive, there were incorporated sixty-one 
schools of secondary rank. This decade includes a period of unusual 
prosperity, known in state history as the "flush times, "^ which was, 
however, brought to a sudden end by the panic of 1837. All but four 
of the schools receiving charters during this decade were called academies. 
The first departure from the name academy is found in the charter of 
the Vicksburg Institute of Science and Literature'' in 1831. This was 
followed by the Judson Institute in 1836,^ the Chulahoma College and 
Commercial Institute in 1839,^ and the Woodville Classical School, also 
in 1839.'' 

When the panic of 1837 broke upon the state, it brought most 
serious economic distress, but nevertheless the incorporation of academies 
went on unchecked through the legislative sessions of 1839 and 1840. 
This apparent protraction of the "flush times" for the academies was 

' Rowland, Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, I, \g. 

* Poindexter, Revised Code of Mississippi, pp. 414-15. 

3 Baldwin, The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi. 

* Laws of Mississippi, 1831, pp. 49-50. 
Ubid., 1836, pp. 382-84. 

^ Ibid., 1839, pp. 227-29. 7 Ibid., pp. 251-53. 

62 



SECONDARY EDUCATION, 1817-1860 63 

probably due to an act passed in 1839 entitled, "An act for the benefit 
of education."* Under the provisions of this act "all fines, penalties, 
forfeitures, and amercements" assessed by any court in the state were 
appropriated to the support of academies. In twenty-two counties the 
beneficiaries were named in the act.^ Usually in these counties one 
academy was chosen in each, but in a few counties the funds were dis- 
tributed to two or more institutions. The act provided that in all 
other counties^ than the twenty-two named the moneys arising from 
the sources designated should go to such academies and schools as the 
boards of police of the respective counties should select. It seems very 
probable that the support provided in this act was instrumental in 
increasing the number of academies incorporated in 1839 and 1840. In 
fact, eight of the academies named as beneficiaries of the act were incor- 
porated at this same legislative session of 1839.'' Several other academies 
that were given letters of incorporation in years immediately following 
contain a provision in their charters making them beneficiaries of the 
act in their respective counties.^ How many other schools may have 

' Ibid., pp. 38-40. 

^ The twenty-two counties designated in the act and the beneficiaries therein were 
as follows: Attala, Kosciusko Female Academy; Claiborne, Port Gibson Academy; 
Clarke, Quitman Male and Female Academy; Copiah, Gallatin Female Academy; 
Covington, Mt. Carmel Male and Female Academy; De Soto, Hernando Male and 
Female Academy; Hinds, divided equally among the Raymond Female Academy 
and the academies at Clinton and Cayuga; Holmes, the male and female academy at 
Lexington; Jasper, Paulding Academy; Jefferson, Fayette Academy; Lafayette, 
divided equally among the O.xford Male and Female academies and the Wyatt Male 
and Female academies; Lauderdale, Marion Academy; Lawrence, Monticello 
Academy; Marshall, "to the university and female academy"; Newton, the Male 
and Female Academy; Noxubee, Macon Male and Female Academy; Oktibbeha, 
divided equally between the male and female academies; Pontotoc, the male and 
female academy in the town of Pontotoc; Rankin, " to the male and female academies"; 
Tippah, Ripley and Salem academies; Tishomingo, Farmington Academy; Wilkinson, 
the Woodville Classical School. 

3 These counties were as follows: Adams, Amite, Bolivar, Carroll, Chickasaw, 
Choctaw, Coahoma, Franklin, Greene, Hancock, Itawamba, Jackson, Jones, Kemper, 
Leake, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Neshoba, Panola, Perry, Pike, Scott, 
Simpson, Smith, Tallahatchie, Tunica, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Winston, 
Yalobusha, and Yazoo. The legislature, however, designated the beneficiaries of the 
act in Choctaw and Marion counties in 1840, and in Smith in 1843. For references 
see footnote 3 below. 

4 These were the Female Academy of Holly Springs, Farmington Academy, the 
Wyatt academies, "The University" at Holly Springs, Woodville Classical School, 
and Macon Academy. 

sLaws of Mississippi, 1840, pp. 157, 223; 1841, p. 248; 1843, p. 94; 1844, p. 254. 



64 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

been incorporated with the expectation of becoming beneficiaries of the 
act through their county boards of police cannot be determined.^ 

During the decade from 1841 to 1850 the number of charters granted 
to secondary schools dropped to thirty-one. Apparently the incentive 
furnished by the act of 1839 had ceased to operate in the establishment 
of new academies. The funds arising under this act probably had all 
been disposed of by this time to institutions already existing. As a 
consequence, the effect of the "hard times" became operative during 
the early years of the decade. The number of charters for the biennial 
period of 1841-42 was only four, and for the succeeding biennial period 
was six. 

In 1846 the revenue appropriated to academies by the act of 1839 
"for the benefit of education"^ was transferred to the common schools, 
but prosperity had returned to the state, and the academies appear to 
have suffered no ill effects. The number of charters granted increased 
to eight in 1846, and would probably have gone higher in 1848 and 1850 
had not the legislature delegated the power to incorporate schools 
under certain conditions to the county probate clerks. This act, which 
was approved February 10, 1848, provided that any literary, benevo- 
lent, or Christian society, or any school or academy of learning might 
receive the usual corporate powers whenever it should organize, elect 
officers, and have recorded in the office of the probate clerk of its county 
the name and style of the organization.^ Such corporations were per- 
mitted to hold not more than $25,000 worth of property, real and 
personal. 

After the passage of this act it would seem that the legislature 
should have found it necessary to devote its time only to charters for 
those schools whose ambitions could not be satisfied with a property 
limit of $25,000 and for those which sought some special privilege not 
granted in the general act. A study of the charters of the next few 
years confirms this inference. Most of the charters of the next two or 
three legislative sessions following the passage of this act authorize the 
holding of property without limit, or fix the limit at figures ranging 

^ See footnote 2, p. 63. 

' See p. 63. 

3 Laws of Mississippi, 1848, pp. 103-4. The Revised Code of 1857 modified this 
act so that such charters might be granted by the governor of the state, upon the 
advice of the attorney-general, instead of through the probate clerks. The property 
limit for educational institutions was raised to $50,000. Revised Code of 1857, 
pp. 290-92. 



SECONDARY EDUCATION, 1817-1860 65 

from $30,000 to $100,000. Where charters are granted with a property 
limit of $25,000 or less, there can be found, usually, a clause granting 
some special privilege not provided by the general act of 1848. Most 
frequently these special privileges were the following: exemption from 
taxation; the right to use the sixteenth section fund of the township 
or to participate in the common school fund of the county; and the 
prohibition of the sale of vinous and spirituous liquors in the vicinity 
of the school. 

The general prosperity of the state during the decade from 1851 to 
i860 should have brought about a large increase in the number of 
secondary schools. As a matter of fact, however, the legislature granted 
charters to only forty-eight, and the governor to nine others,* making 
the total for the decade fifty-seven. How many other small academies 
may have received the rights of corporate bodies through the county 
probate clerks cannot be conjectured.^ It is probable that this means 
of securing corporate privileges was an important factor in keeping the 
number of legislative charters in bounds. 

After 1850 the name academy is no longer regularly employed for 
secondary institutions, its place having been taken by a diversity of 
names. Of the fifty-seven new secondary institutions of whose incor- 
poration we have record from 1851 to i860, there were 22 academies, 
21 institutes, 9 seminaries, 4 high schools, and i designated in its charter 
simply as "Wilson Hall."^ 

What has been said in the preceding paragraphs about the number 
and character of the secondary schools incorporated during the period 
of this study is summarized in Table V. The total number of charters 

' The academies which received their charters from the governor are indicated 
by a star in the list of academies on pp. 66-70. It will be observed that after this 
power was transferred from the probate clerks to the governor exactly half of the 
charters granted to academies were secured in this way. 

^ The records of such incorporations, if preserved, would be at the court-houses 
of the sixty counties of that day. In many cases court-houses have been burned, and 
it is probable that very few, if any, have a record of charters granted from 1848 to 
1857. 

3 Many of these institutes and seminaries were girls' boarding schools, which 
advertised higher curricula than the ordinary secondary school of the time, and 
might properly be considered junior colleges. They almost invariably had the power 
to confer diplomas and degrees, but this power during the fifties was occasionally 
given to secondary schools, not only in Mississippi, but in other western states. See 
abstracts of charters in Appendix A and compare charters of Masonic and Odd Fellows 
High School (1852), Byhalia Male Academy (1856), and Wilson Hall (i860). 



66 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

granted to such institutions throughout the period of this study, exclud- 
ing those which were clearly designed to be of college rank, was 179. 
This number includes only those which received letters of incorporation 
from the legislature or the governor. The newspaper files of the period 

TABLE V* 
Secondary Schools Incorporated in Mississippi from 1807 to i860 



Period 


1807-16 


1817-30 


1831-40 


1841-50 


1851-60 


Total 


Academies 


8 


21 


57 
3 


23 
3 

I 
I 
3 


22 

21 

9 

4 

I 


131 
27 
10 


Institutes 


Seminaries 






High schools 








5 
6 


Miscellaneous 




I 


I 








Total 


8 


22 


61 


31 


57 


179 





* The figures do not show the full number of secondary schools founded in Mississippi. In addition 
to those which were incorporated by county probate clerks and not included here there were others which 
were never incorporated. 

reveal the existence of many other academies and private schools doing 
secondary work which were never recognized by legislative enactment. 
The complete list of the 179 chartered secondary schools, with the 
county in which each was located and the date of its incorporation 
follows: 



Mississippi Secondary Schools from 1807 to i860 

Franklin Society, Jefferson 

Madison Academy, Claiborne 

Washington Academy, Washington (Alabama) 

Greene Academy, Madison (Alabama) 

Jackson Academy, Wilkinson 

Amite Academy, Amite 

Pinckneyville Academy, Wilkinson 

WUkinson Academy, Wilkinson 

Hancock College, Hancock 

Elizabeth Female Academy, Adams 

Beach HUl Academy, Jefferson 

Pearl River Academy, Lawrence 

Natchez Academy, Adams 

Wilkinson Female Academy, Wilkinson 

Columbian Academy, Marion 

Franklin Academy, Monroe (now in Lowndes) 

Sligo Academy, Wilkinson 



807 
809 
811 
812 
814 
81S 
815 
815 
818 
819 
819 
819 
819 
819 
820 
821 
821 



SECONDARY EDUCATION, 1817-1860 67 

Centre Academy, Claiborne 1823 

Flower Hill Academy 1825 

Pinckneyville Academy, Wilkinson 1826 

Hampstead Academy, Hinds 1826 

Clinton Academy, Claiborne 1826 

Fayette Academy, Jefferson 1827 

Westville Academy, Simpson 1827 

Rutledge Academy, Copiah 1828 

Benton Academy, Yazoo 1829 

Pearl River Academy, Rankin 1829 

Marion Academy, Wilkinson 1830 

Natchez Academy, Adams 1830 

Hampden Academy, Hinds 1830 

Vicksburg Institute of Science and Literature, Warren 1831 

Meridian Springs Academy, Hinds 1831 

Yazoo Academy, Yazoo 1833 

Hickory Springs Academy, Holmes 1833 

Brandon Academy, Wilkinson 1833 

Pearl River Academy, Madison 1833 

Spring Ridge Academy, Madison 1833 

Gallatin Female Academy, Copiah 1833 

Richlands Academy, Carroll 1836 

Madisonville Male Academy, Madison 1836 

Madisonville Female Academy, Madison 1836 

Judson Institute, Hinds (moved to Carroll in 1840) 1836 

Paulding Academy, Jasper 1836 

Monticello Academy, Lawrence 1836 

Carrollton Academy, Carroll 1836 

Gallatin Male Academy, Copiah 1836 

Washington Irving Academy, Holmes 1836 

Franklin Female Academy, Holmes 1836 

Canton Female Academy, Madison 1836 

An Academy, Wilkinson 1836 

Marion Academy, Lauderdale 1837 

Lane Academy, Warren 1837 

Lewisville Academy, Winston 1837 

Hernando Academy, De Soto 1837 

Greensboro Male and Female academies (2), Choctaw' 1837 

Sharon Female Academy, Madison 1837 

Pinckney Academy, Newton 1837 

Mount Carmel Male and Female Academy, Covington 1837 

' Two academies incorporated in one act and with the same board of trustees. 
Reincorporated and made beneficiaries of act of 1839 for the benefit of education in 
1840. Laws of Mississippi, 1840, pp. 157-59. 



68 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Colbert Male and Female Academy, Lowndes 1838 

Pontotoc Female Academy, Pontotoc 1838 

Oxford Male Academy, Lafayette 1838 

Oxford Female Academy, Lafayette 1838 

Tuscahoma Academy, Tallahatchie 1838 

Coffeeville Male and Female Academy, Yalobusha 1839 

Cayuga, Hinds (act for benefit; not incorporated) 1839 

Holly Springs Female Academy, Marshall 1839 

Chulahoma Female Academy, Marshall 1839 

Farmington Academy, Tishomingo 1839 

Wyatt Male Academy, Lafayette 1839 

Wyatt Female Academy, Lafayette 1839 

Wahalak Female Academy, Kemper 1839 

Oak Hill Academy, Copiah 1839 

Chulahoma College and Commercial Institute, Marshall 1839 

DeKalb Male and Female Academy, Kemper 1839 

Woodville Classical School, Wilkinson 1839 

Macon Male and Female Academy, Noxubee 1839 

Mount Pleasant Academy, Male and Female, Noxubee 1839 

Shugualak Academy, Male and Female, Noxubee 1839 

Plymouth Male and Female Academy, Lowndes 1839 

Emery Academy, Holmes 1839 

Grenada Male and Female academies, Yalobusha 1839 

Gallatin Academy, Copiah 1840 

Vicksburg Female Academy, Warren 1840 

Almucha Academy, Lauderdale 1840 

Thickwoods Academy, Amite 1840 

Woodville Female Academy, Wilkinson 1840 

Constantine Male and Female Academy, Noxubee 1840 

Rienzi Academy, Tishomingo 1840 

Columbia Academy, Marion 1840 

Williamsburg Male and Female Academy, Covington 1841 

Oakland Male and Female Academy, Yalobusha 1841 

Wahalak Male Academy, Kemper 1841 

Commerce Male and Female Academy, Tunica 1841 

Marion Male and Female Academy, Lauderdale 1842 

Aberdeen Male Academy, Monroe 1843 

Raleigh Academy, Smith 1843 

Friendship Male Academy, Panola 1844 

Decatur Male and Female Academy, Newton 1844 

Houston Male and Female Academy, Chickasaw 1844 

Lexington Male and Female Academy, Holmes 1844 

St. Thomas' Hall, Marshall 1846 

Jackson Male Academy, Hinds 1846 



SECONDARY EDUCATION, 1817-1860 69 

Jackson Female Academy, Hinds 1846 

Zion Seminary, Covington 1846 

Pontotoc Male Academy, Pontotoc 1846 

Aberdeen Female Academy, Monroe 1846 

Black Hawk Male Academy, Carroll 1846 

Black Hawk Female Academy, Carroll 1846 

Macon Female Institute, Noxubee 1848 

Canton Male Academy, Madison 1848 

Raymond Female Institute, Hinds 1848 

Columbus Female Institute, Lowndes 1848 

Enterprise Academy, Clarke 1848 

Pleasant Hill Male and Female Academy, Jasper 1848 

Pearl River Female Academy, Madison 1850 

Polkville Male and Female Academy, Smith 1850 

Almucha Academy, Lauderdale 1850 

Kemper College, Kemper 1850 

Salem High School, Greene 1850 

Yazoo Classical HaU, Yazoo 1850 

Euclid Male and Female Academy, Tishomingo 1850 

Choctaw Collegiate Institute, Noxubee 1852 

Maple Spring Male Academy, Tippah 1852 

Masonic and Odd Fellows High School, Choctaw 1852 

Bascom Female Seminary, Yalobusha 1852 

Pleasant Ridge Male and Female Academy, Tippah 1852 

Middleton Female Seminary, Carroll 1852 

Greenwood Female Institute, Jasper 1852 

Southern Scientilic Institute, Claiborne 1852 

Simpson Male and Female Seminary, Simpson 1852 

Collegiate High School of the I. O. O. F., Lowndes 1852 

Newton Institute, Wilkinson 1852 

Cold Water Baptist Female Seminary, Marshall 1852 

Yalobusha Baptist Female Institute, Yalobusha 1852 

Enon High School, Perry 1852 

Canton Female Institute, Madison 1852 

Presbyterian Female CoUegiate Institute, Pontotoc 1852 

Crawfordsville Male Institute, Lowndes 1852 

Crawfordsville Female Institute, Lowndes 1852 

Coffeeville Female Institute, Yalobusha 1855 

Hill City Collegiate Institute, Warren 1854 

Central Female Institute, Hinds 1854 

Byhalia Female Institute, Marshall 1854 

Red Banks Female Seminary, Marshall 1854 

Friendship Academy, Panola 1854 

Octograde Seminary, Yalobusha 1854 



70 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Good Hope Academy, Leake 1854 

Port Gibson Collegiate Academy, Claiborne 1854 

Union Seminary, De Soto 1854 

Monroe Female Institute, Monroe 1854 

Westminster Academy, Tippah 1854 

Calhoun Institute, Madison 1856 

Oak Bowery Academy 1856 

East Port Female Institute, Tishomingo 1856 

Byhalia Male Academy, Marshall 1856 

Amite Female Seminary, Amite 1856 

Okolona Female Institute, Chickasaw 1856 

Okolona Male Academy, Chickasaw 1856 

Canaan Male and Female Academy, Tippah 1856 

Fayette Female Academy, Jefferson 1857 

Summerville Institute and Female Seminary, Noxubee (act for benefit; 

not incorporated) , 1858 

*Spring Ridge Female Seminary, Hinds 1858 

*Central Academy, Madison 1859 

*Hillsboro Male and Female Academy, Scott 1859 

*Iuka Female Institute, Tishomingo 1859 

*Westville Seminary, Simpson 1859 

*Rose Hill Male and Female Academy, Jasper 1859 

Vernal Male and Female Academy, Greene i860 

Wilson Hall, Marshall i860 

Aberdeen Masonic Male High School, Monroe i860 

Amite County Female Academy, Amite i860 

Willard Male Academy, De Soto i860 

Willard Female Academy, De Soto i860 

Masonic Female Seminary, Marshall i860 

Brandon State Military Institute, Rankin' i860 

*Bethany Male and Female Institute, Amite i860 

*Hazlehurst Male and Female Institute, Copiah i860 

*Richlan^ Male and Female Academy, Rankin i860 

* Institutions whose names are preceded by a star received their charters from the governor, under 
chap. XXXV, sec. i, of the Revised Code of 1857, pp. 290-91. 

The attention of the reader has been called in chapter i to the fact 
that the real history of Mississippi from 1798 to 1840 is the story of the 
development successively of new lands acquired from the Indian tribes.^ 
In a sense this process continued until the outbreak of the Civil War, 
for the last decade was a continuation of the development of the Chicka- 
saw cession. It is interesting to note how the incorporation and distri- 
bution of the academies of the state followed the historical development 

' See pp. 99-100 for discussion of this school. ^ See chap, i, p. 4. 



SECONDARY EDUCATION, 1817-1860 



71 



of the different sections. In Table VI the historical sections of the 
state are listed in the order in which they became a part of the territory 
or state, and the number of academies incorporated in each section is 
shown for each decade. For the sake of convenience the first period 
after the admission of the state to the Union is made to cover thirteen 
years instead of ten. 

It will be observed that twenty-four of the thirty-two charters 
granted in the Natchez district were given before the close of 1840. 
The Choctaw purchase of 1805, which developed very slowly until the 
latter years of the nineteenth century, incorporated only ten academies, 
distributed over a period of forty years. The coast counties, the 
Florida annexation, where the French established their first south- 
western colony in 1699, had prior to i860 only one chartered school. 

TABLE VI 

Distribution of Secondary Schools by Historical Sections 



Section 


1807-16 


1817-30 


1831-40 


1841-50 


1851-60 


Total 




6 


II 

2 
I 

I 
6 


7 
3 




8 
2 




Choctaw Cession, 1805 


3 














I 
24 
16 
11 


4 
6 
13 

S 


3 
10 
15 
19 

I 








46 


Choctaw Cession. 1830 














Undetermined 




I 


2 













On the other hand we may read from the figures of the table the story 
of the rapid development between 1830 and 1840 of the central counties 
of the state, which were carved out of the second Choctaw cession. 
The story of the thirty years of steady growth of the counties of north 
and east Mississippi is indicated in the figures given for the third Choctaw 
cession and the Chickasaw cession.^ 

■ ANALYSIS or SECONDARY -SCHOOL CHARTERS 

The usual type of secondary institution to which charters were 
granted was the academy governed by a self-perpetuating board of 
trustees. There were, however, during the latter half of the period 
covered in this study a number of academies supported by stock com- 
panies, which elected annually a board of trustees to govern their 
schools. In a few instances after 1850 there were academies whose 
charters provided that the trustees should be elected by the patrons of 
the school,^ or the qualified electors of the township or the village in 

' The territorial area of these different sections is shown on the map in chap, i, p. S . 
' For instance Westminster Academy, Laws of Mississippi, 1854, pp. 429-30. 



72 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

which the school was located.' These latter schools received support 
from public funds of one kind or another. There were also a few second- 
ary schools supported by religious denominations, whose trustees were 
elected at stated intervals by representative bodies of the supporting 
denominations. A few schools, also, were incorporated after 1850 by 
fraternal societies — the Masons and the Odd Fellows — which governed 
the school through boards of their own selection. The self-perpetuating 
board, however, was the prevailing plan of organization for secondary 
schools throughout the entire period that is under investigation. 

The powers given to the boards of trustees almost universally were 
(i) to receive and hold real and personal property for the use of the 
institutions; (2) to sue and be sued; (3) to make regulations for their 
own government and the government of the school; and (4) to employ 
the president or principal and other necessary teachers. In some 
instances the trustees might dismiss teachers at pleasure, and, less 
often, for malconduct and inefficiency. The earlier charters provided 
that trustees might receive donations and legacies, but this clause was 
usually omitted from later charters. In a few instances trustees were 
"to ordain the course of study," but as a rule the charters contained 
no reference to the curriculum. Occasionally a charter may be found 
which required the trustees to examine the qualifications of the teachers. 
Very commonly it was made the duty of the trustees to visit the schools 
at stated intervals and to examine the proficiency of the students. In 
some cases they were authorized to delegate this duty to "visitors," 
whom they should appoint for the purpose. After 1850 it is not unusual 
to find charters in which the trustees were authorized to grant diplomas, 
and sometimes to confer degrees, but these powers were usually confined 
to female "institutes" and "seminaries." There are a few instances, 
however, of academies being authorized to confer degrees.^ 

As a general rule the charters make no provision for the support of 
the institutions they incorporate. The exceptions to this rule will be 
discussed in chapter xi. In the absence of other means of support it is 
evident that tuition fees must have been the main dependence, but 
only a few charters specifically authorize the trustees to fix rates. 
That this power was implied and usually exercised is indicated in num- 
bers of advertisements of academies found in the newspaper files of the 
period.^ The charters of a considerable number of schools indicate 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1854, p. 394. 

^ See footnote 3, p. 65. 

3 See advertisements in The Mississippian, September 4, 1825. 



SECONDARY EDUCATION, 1817-1860 73 

that they were supported on the subscription plan, and the powers and 
liabilities of the subscribers to such institutions are carefully prescribed.' 

Aside from the provisions contained in the charters mentioned thus 
far there were numerous other miscellaneous provisions that appear in 
a few charters. Some of these are given below, being paraphrased in 
most cases for the sake of brevity : 

The governor of the state shall fill vacancies on the board of trustees. 

The charter may be amended or rescinded at the will of the legis- 
lature. 

Trustees shall provide equal rights and privileges for students of all 
religious denominations. 

There shall be at least one teacher to each twenty-five pupils. 

Trustees shall employ the principal only, who shall select his own 
assistants. 

The faculty shall make regulations for the government of the 
institution. 

Trustees may determine the mode of electing their own successors. 

Trustees may select a site and erect the necessary buildings. 

Trustees shall establish "terms, vacations, and tuition fees." 

Trustees may collect all debts and dues. 

Trustees shall fix salaries (in three charters). 

Trustees shall pay salaries (in two charters). 

Trustees shall lease annually the sixteenth section on which the 
academy is located. 

Trustees may control the funds arising from the sixteenth section 
of the township for the use of the academy. 

It is a significant fact that most of the academies incorporated 
after 1830 bore the name of villages and towns rather than the names 
of counties or national heroes, as had been the earlier custom. For 
instance, in the year 1836 the following academies were incorporated, 
each bearing the name of the village in which it was located: Richland, 
Paulding, Monticello, Carrollton, Lewisville, Hernando, Greensboro, 
Gallatin Male, Franklin Female, Canton Female, Pinckney, and Mount 
Carmel. In the same year Pearl River Academy at Brandon had its 
name changed to Brandon Academy, and Hampden Academy at Ray- 
mond became Raymond Academy. It appears that the villages and 
towns which sprang up or awoke to new life during the "flush times" 
were establishing these schools primarily for the village children. Some 
of the academies of the "thirties" and even later, however, were essen- 
tially boarding schools, and some of them during the next decade were 

' See abstracts of charters in AppendLx A. 



74 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

county institutions, to the extent of receiving aid from the county- 
treasuries upon the appropriation of the state.' 

INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS 

The influence of rehgious denominations in the incorporation of 
secondary schools was remarkably slight. There are only twelve 
charters which provide for any control of the institution by a religious 
body, and in two of these the authority of the church is limited to the 
appointment of visitors.^ There are three other early charters that 
incorporate jointly an "academy and meeting-house," but no clearly 
defined authority of the church over the academy is revealed in these 
charters.^ Probably the only relation was that the boards of trustees 
(which were self-perpetuating) were made up of members of the asso- 
ciated churches. Of the twelve institutions which were clearly under 
denominational control six were Baptist, three Methodist, two Pres- 
byterian, and one Episcopal. There were also a few other institu- 
tions, which were under private control, but were closely affiliated with 
religious denominations through the denominational relations of their 
owners, trustees, and faculties. Their charters, however, contained no 
reference to any religious authority, and their boards of trustees were 
usually self-perpetuating. 

The paucity of denominational secondary schools was not due to 
any lack of rehgious or sectarian interest. There is abundant evidence 
that the people of the state were rather strong sectarians. But in 
school matters they apparently wished to lay aside their religious 
differences and work in harmony for the education of their youth. A 
number of charters contain the injunction that the trustees "shall take 
effectual care that students of all denominations be admitted to equal 
advantages," and "receive a like fair and generous treatment."'' 

SECONDARY SCHOOLS FOR GIRLS 

From the early territorial days, the education of girls was a matter 
of keen interest to the people of Mississippi. The first school of which 
we have any record was a private school for girls established by Rev. 
David Ker at Natchez in iSoi.s The charters given to the academies 

' Under act of 1839. See pp. 62-63. 

* Laws of Mississippi, 1856, pp. 317-18; 1857, pp. 88-90. 

3 Beach Hill Academy and Methodist Meeting House, 1819; Centre Academy 
and Meeting House, 1823; Almucha Academy and Free Church, 1840. 

'' See summaries of charters of early academies in Appendix A. 

s Rowland, op. cil., p. 19. 



SECONDARY EDUCATION, 1817-1860 75 

during the territorial period contain no reference to sex. It must be 
inferred that none were exclusively for females, but some may have 
been coeducational. The first chartered girls' school in the state was 
Elizabeth Female Academy, which was established at Natchez as 
property of the Mississippi Methodist Conference in 1818 and was 
given a charter in 1819.^ The charter permitted the ownership of 
property to the amount of $100,000, which was much higher than the 
usual property limit for academies at that time.^ Wilkinson Female 
Academy, which was incorporated at the same meeting of the general 
assembly, was restricted to the possession of not more than $10,000 
worth of real estate and $30,000 of personal property.^ 

A period of fourteen years elapsed after the incorporation of these 
two academies before a charter was given to another school designed 
specifically for girls. Nothing in the charters granted during these 
fourteen years indicates whether the academies incorporated were for 
males only or for both sexes. From other sources we have evidence 
that there were some of each kind. Pearl River Academy at Brandon, 
for instance, which was incorporated in 1829, was advertising four 
years before it secured its charter that it had a female department in 
a separate building.'* Port Gibson Academy, on the other hand, was 
chartered in 1836, but did not establish a female department until 
thirty years later.^ 

In 1833 the Gallatin Female Academy was added to the list of 
incorporated female schools,^ and in 1836 charters were granted to 
three others.^ About this time the custom of designating the coeduca- 
tional schools as "male and female academies" began, and a large 
number of charters were granted to such institutions during the two 
decades following. These "male and female" academies usually bore 
the name of the town in which they were located, indicating the tendency 

' MS Laws of Mississippi, Mississippi State Archives, Series I, No. 2. 

^ This academy has been called a "college except in name," and "the mother of 
female colleges in the United States." See Blandin, History of Higher Education of 
Women in the South Prior to 1S60, pp. 43-48, and Galloway, "Elizabeth Female 
Academy — The Mother of Female Colleges," Publications of the Mississippi Historical 
Society, II, 169-78. 

3 MS Laws of Mississippi, Mississippi State Archives, Series I, No. 2. 

4 The Mississippian, Jackson, September 4, 1825. 
s Laws of Mississippi, 1858, p. 121. 

* Ibid., 1833, Mississippi State Archives, Series I, No. 19. 
7 Ibid., 1836, pp. 380, 393, 396. 



76 



EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 



of these towns to establish each for itself a local academy for the educa- 
tion of the children of both sexes. Many communities, however, pre- 
ferred separate institutions for the sexes. Often in a single legislative 
act a male academy and a female academy were incorporated for the 
same town, sometimes both under the control of the same board of 
trustees. 

During the decade from 1850 to i860 many letters of incorporation 
were granted to boarding schools for girls, both of secondary and higher 
rank. It is often difficult to determine whether a given school should 
be classed as of secondary or college grade. Many of them bore the 
name "female institute" or "female seminary." They were usually 
given the power to grant diplomas and degrees. Practically all of them 

TABLE VII 
Educational Institutions Chartered from 1850 to i860 



Rank 


Male 


Female 


Co-educational 

or 
Undetermined 


Total 


Colleges 


3 


13 
6 

13 

I 

5 


4 
3 
5 


20 


Seminaries . . . 


9 
21 


Institutes 


3 


Institutes and seminaries 


I 


Academies and high schools* 


7 


19 


31 


Total 


13 


38 


31 


82 







* A few miscellaneous names are included with the academies and high schools. 

gave a secondary course, and a great many gave little more. The large 
proportion of "female schools" incorporated from 1850 to i860 is 
shown in Table VII. 



CURRICULA OF THE ACADEMIES 

There is nothing in the charters granted to Mississippi academies to 
indicate clearly the curricula of these schools. A few charters authorize 
the boards of trustees to "ordain the course of study," but this function 
is usually left by implication to the faculties, with no suggestion from 
the state as to what the curriculum should contain.^ The distinction 

' The newspaper files of the period give much more information as to the curricula 
of the academies than the statutes. From the Mississippi Messenger of August 19, 
1806, we learn that the curriculum of the first academy incorporated in Mississippi 
included English grammar, bookkeeping, geography, mathematics, Latin, and Greek. 
An advertisement of the Pearl River Academy of Rankin County in The Mississippian 
of September 4, 1825, indicates little change in secondary curriculum during the 
nineteen years. In its elementary department there was taught reading, writing, and 
arithmetic; and in the secondary department, English grammar, geography, logic, 



SECONDARY EDUCATION, 1817-1860 77 

drawn in 182 1 as to requirements for license to teach in the common 
schools and in the academies indicates the chief difference in the minds 
of the legislators of that time between the academy and the common 
school. In addition to the common school subjects, teachers in acade- 
mies were required to be qualified to teach Latin and Greek. ^ 

STATUS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN 1850 

Perhaps the most satisfactory method of forming an adequate con- 
ception of the status of secondary education in Mississippi during the 
closing years of the period covered in this study is to compare the situa- 
tion in this state with that in other states. For this comparison the 
states of Illinois and Indiana have been chosen for the reasons set 
forth in the preceding chapter, and the statistics are presented con- 
cisely in Table VIII. The figures are for the year 1850, which was 
selected in preference to i860 because it is generally accepted as mark- 
ing the high tide of the academy movement in the nation and because 
conditions were more normal than on the eve of the Civil War. This 
early selection makes it necessary to leave out of consideration, on the 
one hand, the high schools organized in the two northern states during 
the decade following 1850, and on the other hand, the large number of 
private institutions incorporated after that date in Mississippi, as 



natural philosophy, and "Languages." Ten years later the Pontotoc Academy 
advertised in the same paper (September 18, 1935) the following course of study, 
naming the textbooks used in each of its three departments: 

First class: Murray's Spelling Book, Introduction, English Reader, and Small 
Grammar; Pike's Arithmetic. 

Second class: Murray's Large Grammar; Goodrich's Geography; Grimshaw's 
History of the United States, England, France, Rome, and Greece; Kirkman's Elocution; 
Clanes' Philosophy and Chemistry. 

Third class: Historia Sacrae; Aesop's Latin Fables; Caesar, Sallust, Ovid, Vergil, 
Horace, Hervine, Cicero, Juvenal, Perseus; Blair's Lectures; Parley's Philosophy; 
Button's Mathematicks; West Point System of Surveying; Vince's Conic Sections; 
Carvallo's Philosophy; Greek Grammar, New Testament, Greece Minora, Greece Majora, 
Homer; French. 

It is interesting to compare with this extended curriculum the simple entrance 
requirements of Jefferson College as advertised in the Natchez Weekly Courier and 
Journal of January i, 1837. The advertisement states that entering students "must 
have read Vergil and Sallust and be acquainted with geography and arithmetic to 
the Rule of Three." Apparently some knowledge of Greek was also presumed, for 
the same advertisement states that freshmen were required to "review" Greek and 
Latin grammar during the hrst semester. 

' See chapter on administration and supervision, p. 113. 



78 



EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 



shown in Table VII. The figures of Table VIII, except those in the 
last column are from the United States census report. The last column 
contains estimates made by Henry Barnard by adding to the census 
figures the statistics for schools which failed to make returns to the 
census bureau.^ 

The table indicates that Mississippi, with about one-third the white 
population of either of the two northwestern states, was supporting a 
larger number of secondary schools, had a larger number of students 
attending such schools, employed more teachers, and was expending 
more money upon her secondary schools than either of the other two 
states. Indeed, if Barnard's estimates can be trusted, Mississippi was 
expending on her academies twice as much as Indiana and almost 
three times as much as Illinois. 

TABLE VIII 
Status of Secondary Schools in Three States in 1850 



States 


White 
Population 


Schools 


Teachers 


Pupils 


Income 
(Returns) 


Income 
(Estimated) 




846,034 
977,718 
295,718 


83 
131 
171 


160 
233 
297 


4,244 
6,185 
6,628 


$40,488 
63,520 
73,717 


$ 47.678 

73,219 

144,732 









The flourishing condition of Mississippi's secondary schools was 
due in part to the industrial and economic conditions. The isolation of 
large plantations with their throngs of slaves made it difficult to locate 
common schools so that they could be attended conveniently by the 
children from these large estates. The state as a whole was in excellent 
financial condition during almost all of the sixty years covered by this 
study. The towns which grew up in the thirties and forties were well 
able to maintain their own academies. The masters of the plantations 
were men of wealth and could well afford to pay the small tuition and 
moderate price for board necessary to keep their children in those 
academies which were essentially boarding schools. In many cases 
these plantation owners had come to Mississippi during the "flush 
times" from Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee, and had 
brought with them the aristocratic prejudices of the earlier southern 
states. In their minds the common schools were for the children of 
the poor and of the artisans, mechanics, professional and business men 
of the villages, but for their own children they desired the more exclu- 
sive atmosphere of the private institution. 

' Barnard, The American Journal of Education, I (1856), 368. 



CHAPTER VII 

HIGHER EDUCATION IN MISSISSIPPI FROM 1817 TO 1860 
THE SEMINARY LANDS 

On February 20, 1819, an act of Congress became effective which 
provided that in addition to the township of land granted for the sup- 
port of Jefferson College there should be granted in the state of Missis- 
sippi another township, or a quantity of land equal thereto, for "the 
support of a seminary of learning." The lands were to be located by 
the secretary of the treasury of the United States in tracts of not less 
than four entire sections each, and were to be vested "in the legisla- 
ture of the said state, in trust."^ In 1821 the general assembly of the 
state passed an act requiring the governor to obtain information as to 
"the most suitable township in the recent Choctaw cession," to locate 
the whole or a part of the thirty-six sections, and authorizing him to 
appoint persons to explore the territory for this purpose.^ Lands 
satisfactory to the state and national governments were finally selected 
in 1823.^ 

In 1825 the state adopted the policy of leasing the seminary lands 
for short periods. The state auditor was authorized and required to 
lease the unimproved lands for a term of four years, with the proviso 
that the lessee should preserve the timber from waste and should clear 
twenty acres to each quarter section leased, fence it, and build a cabin 
thereon.'' In 1827 the auditor was authorized to renew the leases 
when they expired and to bring suit against lessees who had not paid 
their rents.^ This act also required that notice of the leasing of the 
lands should be published, and that the lands should be let to the highest 
bidder. A supplementary act was passed in 1830 under which the 
auditor was authorized to lease improved seminary lands, as the leases 
expired, to the highest bidders, and to continue to let unimproved 
lands under the terms provided in the act of 1825.^ The rents from 

' United States Statutes at Large, III, 485. 
'Laws of Mississippi, 1821, pp. 128-29. 
3 Rowland, Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, II, 638. 
* Laws of Mississippi, 1825, pp. 13-14. 
sibid., 1827, pp. 18-20. ^ Ibid., 1824-38, pp. 331-32. 

79 



8o EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

all leases were to be turned into the state treasury as soon as they were 
collected. 

The legislature abandoned the practice of leasing the seminary 
lands in 1833 and ordered the thirty-six sections sold. The act, which 
was approved March 2, 1833, required the governor to appoint three 
commissioners to estimate the value of the lands. After the commis- 
sioners had appraised the lands the auditor was required to advertise 
them for sale to the highest bidder, in tracts of not less than quarter 
sections, but was forbidden to accept any bid less than three-fourths of 
the value fixed by the commissioners. The terms of the sale permitted 
three years' credit, for which notes were taken, with approved security. 
The proceeds of the notes, as fast as they should be collected, were 
ordered invested in stock of the Planters' Bank.' In accordance with 
the provisions of this act all but one half-section of the seminary lands 
were sold during the year 1833 in exchange for notes to the total amount 
of $277,322.^ 

In 1835 Governor Lynch reported that all the notes were due, and 
that with the accrued interest amounted to $310,000. Four years later 
many of them were still unpaid. Governor McNutt said that they 
were generally well secured, but many were under protest.^ 

THE SEMINARY FUND 

The Seminary Fund was legally created by an act of the legislature 
which was approved on July 26, 1843. The fund was made to consist 
of all moneys that had accrued or might accrue from the sale of the 
thirty-six sections of land donated by the United States for a seminary 
of learning and all bank stock in which such moneys had been invested.'* 
The fund was placed under the control of the "commissioner of the 
Seminary Fund," whom the governor was authorized to appoint for a 
term of four years, with the power of removing his appointee at pleasure. 
The commissioner was required to take control of all moneys, stocks, 
etc., belonging to the Seminary Fund, and to deposit the same in the 
state treasury. He was also authorized and instructed to bring suits 
whenever necessary to recover sums due the fund, with the assistance 
of the attorney general, who was required to prosecute all such suits. 

' Laws of Mississippi, pp. 458-60. 

^ Rowland, op. ciL, p. 639. 

3 Senate Journal, 1839, P- 8. 

* Laws of Mississippi, 1843 (Called Session), pp. 57-64. 



HIGHER EDUCATION, 1817-1860 8l 

A further duty of the commissioner was to investigate and report on 
the condition and previous history of the seminary lands and receipts 
therefrom, showing the amount received from leases prior to the sale 
of the lands in 1833; the amount of the sales; when, how, and by 
whom invested; the amount due the fund, and by whom, at the time 
of the appointment of the commissioner. The state treasurer was 
required to keep a separate account of this fund and to credit to this 
account all moneys previously paid into the treasury from the seminary 
lands, and 5 per cent interest from the date they were received until 
the act became effective. An interest rate of 8 per cent was allowed 
upon the fund after the passage of the act.' 

In 1846 the office of commissioner of the Seminary Fund was abol- 
ished, and the duties of that official were transferred to the "state com- 
missioner," who had control, also, of several other state funds that were 
not related to educational affairs.^ At the same session the legislature 
authorized the state commissioner to "compound and compromise with 
the debtors" to the Seminary Fund, provided that the governor of the 
state and the attorney general approved in each instance.^ 

In the meantime, through the failure of the Planters' Bank and the 
dishonesty of many purchasers of seminary lands, a large part of the fund 
had been lost. Governor A. G. Brown, in 1846, submitted to the legis- 
lature a statement showing the account of the fund at that time to be 
as follows: 

Amount now in the treasury of the state $103,068.40 

Lost principal and interest in Planters' Bank. . . . 110,000.00 
To be collected, but in safe hands and secure. . . . 38,356.93 



Total $251,425 .33 

The governor reminded the legislature that the Seminary Fund was a 
trust fund, "so declared by the act of Congress making the donation of 
lands, out of which it sprang." Continuing, he said: 

The state as trustee had no authority for investing it in any bank; she 
did so, however, and $84,900, with several years interest on that amount has 
been lost. The State is, in my opinion, under the most solemn obligation to 
pay it back. It is an obligation, not to Congress, but to the children within 

' The act creating the Seminary Fund failed to provide compensation for the com- 
missioner. This defect in the act was corrected at the next session of the legislature, 
which fixed his salary at $i,joo per annum. Laws of Mississippi, 1844, pp. 129-30 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1846, p. 134. 

3 Ibid., pp. 241-42. 



82 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

her own borders, for whose especial education the fund was set apart. I 
am fully persuaded that Mississippi will never incur the reproach of with- 
holding justice and the means of education from her own children, and 
therefore I submit the question to you without discussing the state's legal 
responsibility.' 

The legislature, however, left the matter in abeyance, and adopted 
the policy of making stated appropriations from the state treasury for 
the support of the University of Mississippi while the question of the 
state's obligation drifted along. In 1848 the rate of interest on the por- 
tion of the fund that was in the state treasury was reduced to 6 per cent.^ 
On February 10, i860, a resolution of the legislature was approved, 
which authorized the governor to appoint a commissioner to conduct a 
thorough investigation of the Seminary Fund, from the time of the land 
grant in 1819 to date, and to report to the governor on or before Octo- 
ber I, 1861.^ Thus the final settlement of the state's obligation dragged 
on beyond the limits set for this study/ 

Jefferson College 
The story of the incorporation and early career of JefTerson College 
has been told in chapter iii. During the territorial period the institu- 
tion was frankly nothing more than a respectable academy, or rather 
it was theoretically a college which had opened only its preparatory 
department. When Mississippi became a state the trustees of the 
school appear to have endeavored to make it a real college. A scholarly 
president was secured and preparations were made for collegiate work. 
The president, however, soon lost the confidence of some of the stronger 
religious denominations of the state, the institution was denounced as a 
nursery of infidelity, and the promise of prosperity suddenly vanished.^ 
"An empty dome with pensioned preceptors" is the picture of the 
institution as Governor Poindexter saw it in 1821.^ About the same 
time a correspondent of the Mississippi State Gazette suggested three 
reasons as an explanation of "the decline of Jefferson College," namely, 

' Cluskey, Speeches, Messages, and Other Writings of A. G. Brown, p. 6. 

^ Laws of Mississippi, 1848, p. 104. ^ Ibid., 1859-60, pp. 391-93. 

■* Settlement was finally made in 1880 on the basis urged by Governor Brown 
thirty- four years before. The amount of fund, with accrued interest, was estimated at 
$544,061, which was charged to the state as a debt, on which the state pays 6 per cent 
annual interest to the state university. Rowland, op. cit., p. 640. 

5 Morrison, "Early History of Jefferson College," Publications of the Mississippi 
Historical Society, II, 179-88. 

* Mississippi State Gazette, January 6, 182 1. 



HIGHER EDUCATION, 1817-1860 83 

that expenses were so high that they precluded all but the wealthy, 
that the school was lacking in scientific equipment, and that it needed 
a popular as well as a scholarly president.' 

During the early years of statehood the trustees of the college were 
left to manage as best they could without interference or assistance 
from the state, except for a loan of $4,000, which was granted in 1820.* 
In 1826 the legislature appears to have considered the advisability of 
making Jefferson College the beneficiary of the federal grant of the 
"Seminary lands." The charter was so modified that the number of 
trustees was reduced to twenty-five, the governor and lieutenant- 
governor were made ex officio members of the board, with the governor 
as president, and it was provided that all vacancies that should occur 
in the board of trustees should be filled by the general assembly, unless 
the assembly should direct the board to fill them.^ Nothing further was 
done, however, toward making Jefferson College the state university, 
and the assembly of 1829 clearly had very different views. The develop- 
ment of the central and northern part of the state and the prospects 
of the early opening of the Chickasaw lands for settlement had left the 
college in one corner of the state, where it was inaccessible to the bulk 
of the population. The assembly now sought to secure the surrender 
of the charter of Jefferson College with the expectation of establishing 
a new institution more centrally located, and conferring upon it both 
the endowment granted to the trustees of Jefferson College by the 
federal government and the seminary lands which were held in trust 
by the state. "i Legal difficulties were encountered, however, the agents 
appointed by the assembly to confer with the college trustees failed to 
reach an agreement with them, and the plan was abandoned. 

The trustees of the college, in the meantime, had decided to reorganize 
the institution on the plan of the West Point Military Academy. The 
general assembly sympathized with the idea to the extent of authorizing 
the state quartermaster to lend arms to the college for use in military 
instruction. 5 This plan proved popular, and the college took on new 
life. Governor Brandon in his message to the assembly in 1830 said: 

Jefferson College continues to prosper beyond our expectations, and 
promises to do much good by spreading a knowledge of science and military 
tactics throughout the state.* 

' Ibid., January 27, 1821. ■* Ibid., 1829, p. 112. 

^ Laws of Mississippi, 1820, p. 53. s Ibid., p. 108. 

3 Ibid., 1826, pp. 51-52. ^ Senate Journal, 1830, pp. 8-9. 



84 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

The need of funds was one of the constant difficulties that confronted 
the trustees of the college. The thirty-six sections of land, which the 
general government granted to the institution in 1803, had been located 
on the Tombigbee River— in the portion of the territory which later 
became the state of Alabama. During the Alabama land boom in 
1818, a part of the township was leased, and about $8,000 was received 
as first payments on the leases. But the lands soon declined in value 
when the boom subsided, and practically all of the lessees forfeited 
their contracts before their second payments were made.^ In 1830 the 
general assembly memorialized Congress to substitute a township of 
land from the public lands of Mississippi for the "sterile, unproductive 
pine barrens" that were selected under the original grant.^ The request 
was granted by an act of Congress "for the relief of Jefferson College" 
passed in 1832. By this act the trustees were authorized to relinquish 
the Tombigbee lands and to locate other lands in Mississippi under most 
satisfactory terms. The college agent was authorized "to advertise for 
proposals for the purchase of the right of location under the fourth 
section of the act for the relief of the college, and subsequently to sell 
and convey that right at the rate of six dollars and fifty cents an acre, 
payable in installments."'' The entire thirty-six sections were sold, and 
a considerable sum was collected. By 1835 the vested endowment 
was said to be $150,000, and more was collected and invested later. 
Fifty thousand dollars of the endowment fund was invested in bank 
stock and lost in the panic of 1837.'^ 

After 1830 the legislature gave evidence of little interest in Jefferson 
College. For more than a decade the only legislation bearing upon the 
college consisted of two acts authorizing the trustees to fill vacancies in 
their own body/ which, under the law, the legislature might have 
filled. During this period the school continued as a military institu- 
tion, and had a fair patronage. The endowment secured from the sale 
of the college lands enabled the trustees to fix the fees at a small figure — 
a matriculation fee of $5 . 00, which was payable only once and a tuition 
rate of $12 . 50 a session.^ 

' Morrison, op. cit., p. 185. 

^ Laws of Mississippi, 1830, pp. 145-46. 

3 United Slates Statutes at Large, VI, 484-85. ^ Rowland, op. cit., pp. 962-63. 

s Laws of Mississippi, 1833, Mississippi State Archives, Series I, No. 19; Laws of 
Mississippi, 1841, p. 159. 

^ Natchez Weekly Courier and Journal, January 27, 1837. This paper also gives 
information as to the faculty and curriculum at that time. There were at the time 
four college professors and two preparatory teachers in the faculty. The college 



HIGHER EDUCATION, 1817-1860 85 

In 1843 the legislature passed an act reducing the number of trustees 
to ten, of whom the governor of the state was made ex ofi&cio chairman. 
The other nine were appointed by the governor with the approval of 
the senate/ In the following year this act and all acts giving the 
legislature power of appointing trustees were repealed, and the manage- 
ment of the college reverted to the control of the self-perpetuating board, 
as provided in the original charter.^ The number of the board was 
fixed at twelve members. 

In 1854 the legislature authorized the trustees of the college to 
establish a branch at Natchez and to attach to the branch, schools of 
medicine and law;^ but the project was never carried out. In the 
same year the legislature also passed a resolution demanding that the 
college repay the loans made m 18 16 and 1820, and caused a suit to be 
begun for the amount.'' Judgment was rendered against the college 
in the circuit court of Adams County, but a later legislature remitted 
the entire debt on the condition that the trustees pay the costs of the 
court. 5 This act of forgiveness closed the legislation upon the state's 
oldest college in so far as the pre-Civil War period is concerned.^ 



professorships were as follows: Intellectual philosophy and belle-lettres (filled by the 
president); Greek, Latin, and Modern languages; mathematics, geology, and civil 
engineering; and natural philosophy and chemistry. 

The work required for a degree from the institution was as follows : 

Freshman class: Graeca Minora, Grecian and Roman Antiquities, Livy, Greek 
and Latin exercises, review of Greek and Latin grammars, arithmetic, algebra to 
equations, English grammar and composition, and Blair's Lectures (abridged). 

Sophomore class: Geography astronomically, geometry and algebra, Graeca 
Major a (Vol. I, finished), Horace, rhetoric, English grammar and composition, general 
histor>'. 

Junior class: First semester — soHd geometry, plain and spherical trigonometry, 
surveying, and navigation; Juvenal, Latin composition; chemistry and natural 
philosophy; Graeca Major a (Vol. 11, begun). Second semester — Graeca Major a 
(Vol. II, finished), analytical geometry, theory of curves, conic sections, and differential 
calculus; natural philosophy; descriptive geometry; Juvenal (finished). 

Senior class: First semester — Integral calculus, astronomy, topography, and 
civil engineering; natural philosophy; Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric, Cicero de 
Oratore, logic, and composition; philosophy of mind. Second semester — Moral 
philosophy; political economy; Longimts de Sublimate, Foley's Natural Theology, 
Evidences of Christianity; chronology and history; reviews; president's lectures. 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1843, pp. 87-89. 

^ Ibid., 1844, pp. 225-26. 

3 Ibid., 1854, pp. 361-62. * Ibid., p. 586. s Ibid., 1858, p. 170. 

* The institution is now a military academy. It has not been regarded as a state 
institution at any time since i860. 



86 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE 

The general assembly of Mississippi in 1826 passed an act "to 
establish an academy in Hinds County," which was placed under the 
superintendence of a self-perpetuating board of trustees of twelve mem- 
bers. The school was called Hampstead Academy, and was located at 
Clinton.' 

When this academy was incorporated, the question regarding the 
location of a state institution for higher education was already receiving 
the thoughtful attention of pohtical leaders. Clinton at that time was 
a flourishing town, was located within nine miles of Jackson, and was 
the serious contender for the permanent location of the state capitol. 
The trustees of Hampstead Academy undertook to convince the general 
assembly that their institution was the logical place for the develop- 
ment of the state university. The assembly was so favorably impressed 
that it amended the charter of Hampstead in 1827, changed the name to 
Mississippi Academy, and appropriated to the institution all rents that 
had been received from the seminary lands and all that might be received 
for a period of five years from the making of the leases that had previ- 
ously been made.^ The trustees, also, were authorized to raise $20,000 
by a lottery, and "the proprietors of the town of Clinton" were per- 
mitted to dispose of town lots by lottery, on condition that 15 per cent 
of the proceeds of these lotteries should be apphed to the "use and 
benefit of Mississippi Academy." 

Two years later the assembly authorized a loan of $5,000 to Missis- 
sippi Academy for the purpose of erecting and completing the buildings, 
and the state took a mortgage on the campus and buildings to secure 
the loan. The act provided that the principal was to be repaid in two 
equal instalments in 1830 and 1831. In case the loan was repaid when 
due, no interest was to be charged, but otherwise the academy was 
required to pay 6 per cent annual interest.^ 

In 1830 the name of the institution was changed to Mississippi 
College, and the trustees were authorized to confer degrees.** An 
amendment to the charter in 1833 gave to the legislature the power of 
filling all vacancies in the board of trustees, with the provision that the 
governor might make temporary appointments during the recesses of 
the legislature. The legislature proceeded in the same act to exercise 
its new prerogative and added to the board as then constituted the 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1826, pp. 23-25. 

^Ibid., 1827, pp. 85-86. 

^ Ibid., 1829, pp. 54-55. * Ibid., 1830 (November Session), pp. 101-2. 



HIGHER EDUCATION, 1817-1860 87 

names of Daniel Comfort, Isaac Caldwell, Cowles Meade, A. B. Shelby, 
Jacob B. Morgan, and Ethelwin Sadler.' From 1833 to 1841, inclu- 
sive, Mississippi College remained a quasi-state institution, but received 
no further contributions to its support from the state government. 

In 1 84 1 the legislature selected a site for the state university in the 
extreme northern part of the state.^ The trustees of Mississippi College 
then determined to make the institution a denominational school, and 
in 1842 tendered it to the Clinton Presbytery. The offer was accepted 
and the school began its career as a Presbyterian college with flattermg 
prospects. A few years later, however, the strife between the "old 
school" and the "new school" Presbyterians was brought into the 
college affairs and caused a decline in attendance. The Presbytery 
became discouraged, and apparently was ready to have the institution 
taken off its hands.'' 

The legislature of 1848 seriously considered the question of estab- 
lishing a state institution for the training of teachers. The trustees 
of Mississippi College thereupon made an effort to have the college 
transformed into a state normal. On January 18, 1848, the House of 
Representatives adopted the following resolution relative to the proposi- 
tion of the trustees : 

Whereas, The trustees of Mississippi College at Clinton, in the county 
of Hinds, have signified a willingness to surrender that institution to the state 
for the use of a normal school ; and 

Whereas, The state did some years ago loan to said institution a sum 
of money which still remains unpaid, and which is secured by mortgage on 
the buildings and grounds of said colleges; therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the committee on normal schools be instructed to visit 
the town of Clinton, and ascertain by a personal examination of the buildings 
and appurtenances of Mississippi CoUege whether the said buUdings would 
answer the purposes of a Normal school.'' 

The committee, after visiting Clinton, reported that they enter- 
tained the opinion that "insurmountable objections" existed "to the 
use of those buildings for the purposes of such a school." One of the 
"insurmountable obstacles" was stated as follows: 

The buildings are upon a scale and in a style unsuitable for the purpose. 
They are much more extensive than would be required, and would demand 

^ Ibid., 1833 (November-December), Mississippi State Archives, Series I, No. 19. 
= Ibid., 1841, pp. 143-45- 

s Brough, "Historic Clinton," Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, 
VII, 281-312. 

* House Journal, 184S, pp. 4S5-86. 



88 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

a greater outlay of money at once, and entail a greater expense for present 
and future repairs than the plan of such a school makes at all necessary.' 

Having failed to transfer the responsibility for the college to the 
state, the Presbytery decided on July 27, 1850, to return the institution 
to the citizens of Clinton, and passed a resolution that "the relation 
heretofore existing between this Presbytery and the Board be hereby 
dissolved." The board of trustees was then reorganized and decided 
to offer the school to the Baptist denomination. The offer was made 
and was accepted by the state Baptist Convention in November of the 
same year.^ 

Mississippi College opened its first session as a Baptist institution 
in the fall of 1850. The new Baptist board of trustees secured an act 
from the legislature authorizing the college to lend its funds and to 
receive interest on notes executed for scholarships at a rate not exceed- 
ing 10 per cent.^ The trustees then began a campaign to raise an 
endowment by the sale of scholarships, and succeeded in raising over 
$100,000.'' During the decade of Baptist control from 1850 to i860 
only one other act of legislation had reference to the college. In 1854 a 
rather miscellaneous bill was passed entitled, "an act for the benefit of 
Mississippi College." By this act the state released the college from the 
lien on its campus and buildings "for money heretofore advanced to aid 
the college," donated to the college library a copy of Hutchinson's 
Code of Mississippi and other state publications, forbade the business 
men of Clinton to sell to students of the college on credit, and prohibited 
the sale of vinous and spirituous liquors within five miles of the college 
campus.s 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI 

In 1840 the state legislature definitely committed itself to the 
proposition of establishing a state university as soon as the necessary 
preliminaries could be disposed of. On February 20 of that year an 
act was approved which proposed "to provide for the location of the 

' House Journal, p. 505. 

* Leavell and Bailey, A Complete History of Mississippi Baptists from the Earliest 
Times, II, 1296. 

3 Laws of Mississippi, 1850 (Called Session, November), p. 32. 

< Leavell and Bailey, op. cit., pp. 1299-1301. The first session of Mississippi 
College under Baptist control opened in 1850 with one teacher and fourteen students. 
At the outbreak of the Civil War there were six men in the faculty and an enrolment 
of 228 students. 

s Laws of Mississippi, 1854, pp. 469-70. 



HIGHER EDUCATION, 1817-1860 89 

State University." This act provided that the legislature should 
select seven possible sites, and should appoint a commission of three, 
representing the different sections of the state, to examine and report 
upon these seven sites to the legislature at its next session. It was 
agreed that the legislature should then ballot upon these sites, dropping 
the one with the least votes after each ballot, until one site should 
receive a majority vote. The act also appropriated the Seminary 
Fund to the "University of the State of Mississippi."' In accordance 
with this act the legislature at its next session in 1841 selected a site for 
the university at Oxford in Lafayette County, and appointed commis- 
sioners to secure titles to the lands chosen.^ In the following year the 
governor was authorized to appoint a "commissioner" to preserve the 
site from waste.^ 

The act of incorporation for the University of Mississippi was 
passed in 1844, and was approved by the governor on February 24 of 
that year. The trustees were named in the charter and made a self- 
perpetuating body.'* They were authorized to adopt a "system of 
learning," and to contract for the erection of the "University building" 
as soon as they should think advisable. No appropriation was made 
for the buildings, but the trustees were given full control over the 
Seminary Fund, and they were expected, it seems, to use this fund for 
building purposes. A blanket provision gave to the trustees all powers 
conferred upon similar corporations in the state. 

Before the trustees had time to make use of any of the $100,000 
then in the treasury of the state to the credit of the Seminary Fund, 
the portion of the charter giving the trustees control of that fund was 
repealed and the management of the fund was returned to the state 
commissioner. 5 In 1846 Governor Brown urged the necessity of an 
appropriation for the erection of the university buildings. "Economy 
should be observed in construction," he said, "convenience and dura- 
biUty being consulted rather than beauty and adornment." He recom- 
mended that the sum set apart for building purposes be limited to 
$50,000.^ The legislature accordingly made an appropriation of $50,000 
as recommended, one-half payable on demand of the trustees and the 

^ Ibid., 1840, pp. 92-95. ^ Ibid., 1841, pp. 143-45. ^ Ibid., 1842, p. 258. 

* Ibid., 1844, pp. 227-28. The trustees named in the charter were J. Alexander 
Ventress, John A. Quitman, Wm. L. Sharkey, Alexander M. Clayton, William Y. 
Gholson, Jacob Thompson, Pryor Lea, Edward C. Wilkinson, James M. Howry, 
John J. McCaughan, Rev. Francis Hawkes, J. N. Waddell, and A. H. Pegues. 

s Ibid., 1846, pp. 248-49. ^ Senate Journal, 1846, p. 14. 



QO EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

balance on January i, 1847/ This appropriation was taken from the 
Seminary Fund.^ 

The University of Mississippi opened for its first session in the fall 
of 1848 with a faculty of four and an attendance of eighty students. 
Twelve years of steady progress marked the history of the school until 
the beginning of the war between the states. The enrolment for the 
session of 1860-61 was 226 students.^ The legislation concerning the 
university during these twelve years dealt chiefly with the question of 
the support of the institution.^ 

MISSISSIPPI STATE FEMALE COLLEGE 

The incorporation of the Mississippi State Female College was the 
result of the determination and enthusiasm of Miss SaUie Eola Reneau, 
who agitated the question of a female college supported by the state 
through the public press and personally urged the matter upon the 
governor and the state legislature. In his message to the legislature 
in 1856 Governor McRae incorporated the following brief paragraph 
upon the subject: 

The proposition of the establishment by the State of a Female College, 
for the thorough and accomplished education of the daughters of the State^ 
has been brought prominently and interestingly before the public, and to the 
notice of the Executive, by Miss Reneau, a young lady of accomplishment, 
intelligence, and talent, educated in this State, a resident of Grenada, engaged 
in the business of female instruction, and devoted to the intellectual advance- 
ment of her sex. I commend the subject to the favorable consideration of 
the legislature.^ 

Miss Reneau followed up the governor's recommendation with a 
memorial in which she outlined her plans for the college, and made an 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1846, p. 249. As a result of this appropriation the trustees 
were enabled to report to the legislature in 1848 that they had erected a main building, 
two dormitories, a steward's hall, and four six-room cottages for the homes of the 
faculty. The main building was three stories high, designed to reproduce the " Grecian 
Ionic Temple on the Tllyseus near Athens." It contained on the first floor a laboratory 
and a lecture hall for the department of chemistry, electricity, geology, and the science 
of agriculture; on the second floor, an assembly room and two lecture-rooms; on the 
third floor, a library, museum, and rooms for the literary societies. The two dormi- 
tories were also three-story buildings and contained seventy-two rooms. See trustees' 
report in House Journal, 1848, p. 48. 

^ Auditor's Report, House Journal, 1848, p. 71. 

J Rowland, op. cit., p. 844. 

4 This legislation is discussed in chap, xi, pp. 127-28. 

5 House Journal, 1856, pp. 22-23. 



HIGHER EDUCATION, 1817-1860 9 1 

eloquent plea for their adoption. She advocated a school with three 
departments, an elementary school, an academy, and a college. The 
latter she wished to embrace "the whole circle of science and polite 
literature, as taught in the best male colleges in the United States, 
together with ample provisions for music and other ornamentals."' 

Miss Reneau's plans apparently met a favorable reception at the 
hands of the legislature. The school was incorporated under the name 
" The State Female College of Mississippi," and the charter was approved 
February 20, 1856. A self-perpetuating board of trustees was given 
full power and control over "funds hereafter appropriated by the legis- 
lature of this state for the endowment of the said State Female College 
of Mississippi." The trustees were also authorized to employ a com- 
petent person to draft a plan for the college and to appoint commis- 
sioners to contract for the erection of the college buildings so soon as 
they should think advisable.^ 

The legislature, however, made no appropriation for the State 
Female College at its session of 1856, nor did its successor in 1858. In 
i860 Miss Reneau addressed a memorial to Congress asking that 500,000 
acres of the 1,200,000 acres of public land in the state then unsold be 
granted for the endowment of the State Female College.^ The state's 
secession from the Union prevented any action on this petition. The 
State Female College never opened its doors to the young women of 
the state, but it was the beginning of an agitation for female education 
that influenced Mississippi to take a most credible position in that 
regard when normal conditions returned after the Civil War. 

THE INCORPORATION OF PRIVATE AND DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES 

In addition to the legislation relative to the four institutions already 
discussed in this chapter there were a number of private colleges incor- 
porated by individuals, religious denominations, and fraternal societies. 
Usually the only legislation upon these schools was the act by which 
they were incorporated. 

The first denominational school that was clearly of college rank to 
receive a charter in Mississippi was Oakland College, incorporated by 
the Presbyterians in 1830. The act of corporation designates the school 
as "The Institution of Learning under the care of the Mississippi 
Presbytery," and leaves the trustees to determine a name for it. There 
were twelve trustees named in the act who were permitted to hold 

I Ibid., pp. 282-88. 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1856, pp. 383-84. ^ Ibid., 1872, p. 128. 



92 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

property to any amount, provided the actual income therefrom did not 
exceed $10,000 a year. The trustees were directed to make provision 
for instruction "in EngHsh Language, in the Latin and Greek languages, 
in Mathematics and the Arts and Sciences, and such other branches of 
Literature" as might be within their means, "in order to prepare young 
men for business, or any of the learned professions."' 

The acts of incorporation for colleges are very similar to the charters 
of the academies and other secondary schools. In fact it is very difficult 
to draw any definite line of distinction between the higher and secondary 
institutions. Usually the property limit of the colleges is considerably 
higher, but there are disconcerting exceptions to this rule. Sharon 
College, for instance, was restricted to $30,000 worth of property, while 
Elizabeth Female Academy was permitted to own $100,000 worth. 
Both were property of the Methodist denomination. All of the colleges 
were permitted to confer degrees,^ but there are several instances where 
this power was given also to academies, institutes, and seminaries.^ 
Almost all the institutions which bear the name "college" were given 
exemption from taxation, but this favor, also, was conferred occasionally 
upon secondary schools. The self-perpetuating board of trustees was 
the most popular method of organization for colleges, as it was also 
for the academies. 

The total number of colleges incorporated by the territory and state 
prior to i860 was thirty-three. Excluding Hancock College and 
Kemper College, which have been classed as secondary schools, the list 
is given in full below, with the county in which each institution was 
located and the date of incorporation. In case the school is known to 
have been under denominational or fraternal control, the organization 
interested is given in parentheses just after the name of the school. 

Colleges and Universities Incorporated in Mississippi Prior to i860 

Jefiferson College, Adams May 3, 1802 

Oakland College (Presbyterian), Claiborne December 3, 1830 

Mississippi College (State, Presbyterian, Baptist), Hinds, 

by amendment to charter of Hampstead Academy. . . December 16, 1830 

Sharon College, Madison May 12, 1837 

Chulahoma College, Marshall January 30, 1839 

University at Holly Springs, Marshall February 9, 1839 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1830 (November), pp. 47-49. 

= Hancock College, apparently only a secondary school, is an exception to this 
statement. 

•5 See p. 72. 



HIGHER EDUCATION, 1817-1860 93 

Grenada College, Yalobusha February 15, 1839 

Mississippi Female College, Lowndes February 5, 1840 

North Mississippi College, Lafayette February 6, 1840 

Centenary College (Methodist), Rankin July 18, 1843 

University of Mississippi (State), Lafayette February 24, 1844 

Jackson College, Hinds January 24, 1846 

Sharon Female College (Methodist), Madison February 23, 1846 

Eureka Masonic College (Masons), Holmes February 7, 1848 

Aberdeen Female College, Monroe, by amendment to 

charter of Aberdeen Female Academy February 27, 1850 

Eudocia Female College, Carroll March i, 1850 

Wilmarth College, Adams January 27, 1852 

Mississippi Female College (Baptist), De Soto February 11, 1852 

Kosciusko Masonic Female College (Masons), Attala. . . . March 3, 1852 

Madison College, Madison March 4, 1852 

Mary Washington Female College (Baptist), Pontotoc. . . March 8, 1852 

College of St. Andrews (Episcopal), Hinds October 10, 1852 

Central Mississippi Female College (Baptist), Holmes.. . . February 25, 1854 
Planters' College, Claiborne, by amendment to charter of 

Southern Scientific Institute February 28, 1854 

Newton College, Wilkinson March i, 1854 

Union Female College, Lafayette, by amendment to 

charter of Oxford Female Academy March 2, 1854 

State Female College of Mississippi (State) February 20, 1856 

("Mississippi Masonic Female College (Masons), Claiborne March i, 1856 

\Southern Female College (same as above; name changed) December 2,1858 

*Semple Broaddus College (Baptist), De Soto November 11, 1858 

*Whitworth College (Methodist), Lawrence February i, i860 

*Corona Female College, Tishomingo February 9, i860 

*Rose Gates College, Chickasaw June 14, i860 

* Colleges whose names are preceded by a star were incorporated by the governor under the pro- 
vision of the Revised Code of 1857. See chap, vi, p. 64 and footnote. 

DENOMINATIONAL AND FRATERNAL INFLUENCE 

The denominational influence in the incorporation and fostering of 
higher education in the state was very important. It is not possible 
to determine from the charters and other legislative records how many 
colleges were under denominational control, but it is probable that a 
majority had some religious affiliation. Practically all the colleges, 
aside from the state institutions, that have persisted down to the present 
time, were denominational schools. 

There were several schools incorporated by fraternal organizations, 
three of which were known as colleges.^ These three colleges were 
under the control of local Masonic lodges. 

I Laws of Mississippi, 1848, pp. 474-76; 1852, pp. 236-38; 1856, pp. 355-56. 



94 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

STATE INFLUENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION 

The general attitude of the state towards higher education was that 
of a sympathetic onlooker. It was ready at all times to bestow the 
privileges of a corporate body upon any group of citizens who desired 
to band together for the establishment of a college. It was willing to 
encourage such worthy purposes by granting exemption from taxes 
upon property used for the benefit of such institutions, and in the early 
days might permit the raising of a limited amount of funds by lottery; 
but it felt no further responsibility for the success or failure of the enter- 
prise. Even the so-called state institutions were under the control of 
self-perpetuating boards of trustees, and were practically independent of 
the state. This was especially true of Jefferson College, which received 
its land grant direct from Congress. Through its control of the Semi- 
nary Fund, the legislature retained a more vital connection with the 
state university, and this relationship was apparently strengthened by 
the failure of the state during this period to adjust its obligations to 
the university as trustee of the Seminary Fund. So long as those obli- 
gations remained unsettled, the legislature found it necessary to make 
appropriations to the university from time to time from the accumulated 
interest the state owed on the fund, thus bringing the trustees into a 
feeling of financial dependence and building up in the legislature a sense 
of responsibihty to the institution. 



CHAPTER VIII 

EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION FOR SPECIAL CLASSES AND FOR 
SPECIAL PURPOSES 

EDUCATION or ORPHANS AND POOR CHILDREN 

The earliest provision made for education of orphans was by means 
of apprenticeships. These provisions applied also to the children of 
paupers. By an act of February lo, 1807, the overseers of the poor, 
under the direction of the county court, were required to bind out poor 
orphans and other children whose parents were incapable of supporting 
them to persons approved by the court until they should reach the age 
of eighteen years, if boys, and sixteen years, if girls. The person to 
whom such a child was bound was required to provide his apprentice 
with good wholesome food, lodging, necessary clothing, and to teach 
him or her the business or occupation which he pursued for a livelihood, 
and "also to read, write, and cypher as far as the rule of three." In 
case the master failed to comply with the law the court was required 
to have the apprentice taken from him and bound to another.' 

The term of apprenticeship for male children was extended in 1809 
to twenty-one years,^ and in 1846 was reduced to nineteen.^ The law 
of apprenticeship, in so far as its educational provisions are concerned, 
remained unchanged until 1857. In that year the wording of the 
educational clause was changed so as to require masters to send their 
apprentices to school until they should learn " to read, write, and perform 
any ordinary calculation incident to the life of a farmer."'* 

In 1829 the legislature passed an act providing for the apprenticeship 
of free negro and mulatto orphans and poor children that was almost 
identical with the law for white children, except that the master was 
required to teach them only his business or trade. ^ 

In addition to the laws for apprenticeship, Mississippi, early in her 
history, made provision for an orphan asylum. In 1819 the general 
assembly incorporated the Female Charitable Society of Natchez, 
whose purpose was to care for and educate orphan children.^ The 
name of this corporation was changed in 1825 to "The Orphan Asylum," 

' Digest, 1816, p. 368; Hutchinson, Code of Mississippi, p. 297. 

'Ibid., p. 369. 5 Laws of Mississippi, 1829, pp. 33-34- 

3 Hutchinson, op. cit., pp. 304-5. ^ MS Laws, Mississippi State Archives* 

4 Revised Code of 1857, pp. 213-14. Series I, No. 2. 

95 



96 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

the society retaining under the new name all the rights and privileges 
given in the original charter. It was also granted the power of guardian 
over the inmates.^ With the passage of this act "The Orphan Asylum " 
became a quasi-pubhc institution, receiving regularly state aid for its 
support. The act which changed the name of the institution made an 
annual appropriation of $500, which the tax collector of Adams County 
was authorized to pay to the asylum each year out of the taxes arising 
from the sale of merchandise at auction in Adams County. When the 
tax on auction sales was reduced the year following, the amount of 
revenue from that source was less than the appropriation authorized, 
but the assembly in 1827 passed an act for the relief of the asylum, 
appropriating an amount sufficient to cover the loss that had befallen it.* 

For eleven years no further legislation was passed with reference to 
the orphan asylum. It appears that the annual appropriation continued 
effective during this period and represented the full amount of state 
aid during these years. In 1838 "an act for the benefit" of the asylum 
carried a special appropriation of $800, which was paid from the state 
treasury.^ When in the following year the act was passed appropriating 
the revenue from fines, forfeitures, and amercements to academies in 
the several counties," the orphan asylum was given the money from these 
sources in Adams County. The common school act of 1846 also con- 
tained a provision that left the revenue from fines, forfeitures, and 
amercements in the city of Natchez to the asylum, but diverted revenue 
arising from these sources in the rest of the county to common schools.^ 
Additional funds for the asylum were provided in 1850 by the appropria- 
tion of all moneys accruing from licenses to keepers of billiard tables in 
Adams County, and also all fines imposed by the circuit court of the 
county.^ To these sources of revenue there was added in 1852 the 
license fees from brokers in the county.^ These acts remained unaltered 
through the rest of our period of study. 

There were two other orphan asylums incorporated in the state 
prior to i860, neither of which received any financial assistance from 
the state. On January 13, 1844, a charter was granted the "Humane 
and Benevolent Society of Vicksburg, with an Orphan Asylum 
annexed."* Ten years later the St. Mary's Orphan Asylum was incor- 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1825, pp. 87-88. s See chap, iv, p. 42. 

^ Ibid., 1827, pp. 55-56. ' Laws of Mississippi, 1850, p. 478. 

3 Ihid., 1838, p. 245. 7 Ihid., 1852 (October), p. 114. 

'I See chap, v, p. 64. * Ibid., 1844, pp. 248-49. 



LEGISLATION FOR SPECIAL CLASSES AND PURPOSES 97 

porated by an act, which, in its title, characterized the asylum as "a 
charitable and educational institution in the city of Natchez."' 

MANUAL LABOR SCHOOL 

The only influence of the manual labor movement in Mississippi 
apparent in the legislation of the state is to be found in the activities 
of the Mississippi Baptist Educational Society, which was organized in 
1835, but was not incorporated. At its first meeting this society declared 
that it deemed it necessary "as soon as practicable to estabUsh a school 
combining manual labor with study, having for its object the education 
of pious young men for the gospel ministry, and such others as the Board 
hereinafter named shall see fit to admit to a participation of its benefits." 
The society at this meeting appointed a board of directors for the 
proposed institution, who, in turn, selected an agent "to collect funds, 
receive subscriptions, etc., to carry into effect the important design of the 
society, to wit : the establishment of a manual labor school, to be under 
the control of the Baptist denomination of the state."* 

The proposed school was incorporated as Judson Institute on 
February 27, 1836, and located at Society Ridge in Hinds County. 
The charter placed the institution under the control of the Mississippi 
Baptist Educational Society, and authorized it to own property to the 
amount of $250,000. The assumption in the charter apparently was 
that the institution would begin as a secondary school and be developed 
later into a college. The trustees were permitted as soon as they should 
"deem it expedient" to "enjoy the privileges of a college and confer 
degrees."^ In 1840 the charter was amended so as to permit the removal 
of the school to Middleton in Carroll County.-* 

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

The records of the legislative department of Mississippi give evidence 
of little attention to the subject of vocational education before i86o.s 

nbid., 1854, pp. 356-57- 

' Leavell and Bailey, A Complete History of Mississippi Baptists from the Earliest 
Times, p. 1243. 

3 Laws of Mississippi, 1836, pp. 382-84. 

* Ibid., 1840, p. 175. This school attracted the favorable attention of the State 
Baptist Convention which gradually overshadowed and supplanted the Educational 
Society, but was never taken over by that body. See Leavell and Bailey, op. cii., 
II, 1246. 

5 The advertisements in the newspapers of the time indicate that some of the 
chartered academies and unincorporated private schools offered courses in book- 
keeping, practical surveying, and occasionally other vocational subjects. As early as 



gS EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

The only school incorporated during the ante-bellum period, which 
indicated in its charter that it was specifically vocational, was the 
Chulahoma College and Commercial Institute, which received its 
letters of incorporation in 1839.' The only indication of its commercial 
purpose in the charter is in the name. 

Provision for vocational education to a limited extent was made in 
some of the higher institutions of learning, notably in the state university. 
In 1850, two years after the opening of the university, the legislature 
by special enactment created at the university a department of "agri- 
cultural and geological science," with a professor and an assistant 
professor in charge. An appropriation of $6,000 a year was voted for 
the maintenance of the department. In addition to his work as an 
instructor, the head of the department was required to make a general 
geological and agricultural survey of the state, for which half of the 
appropriation was to be used.^ In 1852 the geological work was sepa- 
rated from the department, and the name of the latter was changed 
to "agricultural and zoological science."^ The "state geologist" 
continued the work upon the survey of the state, and reports of surveys 
were published by the state in 1854 and 1857.4 

The project for establishing schools of law and medicine at Natchez 
in connection with Jefferson College has been mentioned in the dis- 
cussion of that college in the preceding chapter. No other attempt to 
provide for medical training appears to have been made in the state. 
In 1854 the law department of the University of Mississippi had its 
origin in the creation by special act of the legislature of a "Professorship 
of Governmental Science and Law." An appropriation of $2,000 a 
year was made to pay the salary of the professor, whom the trustees 



182 1 Natchez had a private evening school which laid stress upon the "practicaP'side 
of education, as is indicated by the following advertisement, which appeared in the 
Natchez State Gazette, January 6, 1821: 

EVENING SCHOOL 
Mr. Howard will commence an evening school for the season on 
Tuesday next at 6 o'clock. In addition to the usual branches 
he will instruct young men in Geometry, Civil and Military 
Architecture, Gunnery, Surveying, Topography, and Book- 
keeping. 
Terms from $5 to $20 a month. 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1839, pp. 227-29. 

^ Ibid., 1850, p. 127. 

i Ibid., 1852, pp. 189-90. * Ibid., 1854, pp. 148-50; 1857, pp. 113-14. 



LEGISLATION FOR SPECIAL CLASSES AND PURPOSES 99 

were authorized to employ/ By i860 the department had developed 
to the place where an additional professor was needed, and a second 
chair was established with the same appropriation for salary as made 
for the first. - 

One of the vocations for which many state officials urged the necessity 
of providing definite training was that of teaching, but the provision 
was never made. In 1848, at the urgent recommendation of Governor 
Brown, the legislature turned its attention to the question of establishing 
a normal school,^ and the House of Representatives appointed a special 
committee on normal schools. This committee reported a bill entitled, 
"an act to establish a State Normal School." The House ordered 
five hundred copies of the bill printed, laid the report and the bill on the 
table, and gave it no further consideration.'' 

In 1850 the matter was again brought to the attention of the legis- 
lature by the general school commissioner,^ who asserted that many 
counties were unable to secure competent teachers. The state was 
forced to look to other sections of the nation and to other countries 
for teachers, he said, and "to overlook their foreign accent and stupid 
vulgarity, or be entirely deprived of school privileges."^ This plea, 
however, was ineffectual, as was also Governor McWillie's recommenda- 
tion in 1838 for "a state normal for females."^ 

MILITARY TRAINING 

Reference has been made in the chapter on higher education to the 
reorganization of Jefferson College in 1829 upon a military basis some- 
what similar to the academy at West Point. There was quite a different 
movement for military training more than a quarter of a century later 
that apparently had its inspiration in the growing probability of war 
between the sections of the Union. The Revised Code of 1857 contained 
a provision for a military school fund, which was to be appropriated 
to the establishment and maintenance of "one or more military schools 
in the state."* For the benefit of this fund a poll tax of fifty cents was 
levied upon each able-bodied free white male citizen over eighteen years 
and under forty-five years of age, and also a property tax equal to one- 
fortieth part of the general state tax, which was to be called " the mihtary 

' Ibid., 1854, p. 160. 5 See pp. 42-43. 

'Ibid., 1859-60, pp. 238-39. ^ Senate Journal, 1850, p. 154. 

3 House Journal, 1848, p. 26. ^ House Journal, 1858, p. 23. 

4 Ibid., p. 506. * Revised Code of 1857, p. 266. 



lOO EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

school tax."^ This act was repealed in 1858,^ but the plan to establish a 
military school was not completely abandoned. On February 11, i860, 
the Brandon State Military Institute was incorporated with the avowed 
purpose of providing mstruction for "the youth in the various branches 
of literature, sciences, and arts, and to a thorough military discipline." 
The governor and his successors in office were made members of the 
board of trustees, which was otherwise self-perpetuating. The act of 
incorporation authorized the governor to lend firearms to the institution, 
but made no other provision for its assistance. Before the institution 
could get under way, however, the youth of the state were receiving 
their military mstruction in the camps and on the fields of battle. 

EDUCATION or DEFECTIVES 

The blind. — The Mississippi Institution for the Blind grew out of 
the efforts of Rev. James Champlin, of Sharon, who had been engaged 
in the instruction of a few blind pupils in his home town prior to 1846. 
In that year he visited Jackson with one of his students, in the hope of 
interesting the legislature in the establishment of a state institution for 
the blind. 

According to Mr. Champlin 's statement two years later, he received 
encouragement from individual members of the legislature, but owing 
to the little attention which the public had given the subject it was 
thought best to defer the matter until the next session of the legislature. 
In the meantime, upon the advice of those favorable to the institution, 
Mr. Champlin established a small private school for the blind in Jackson 
in the spring of 1847,^ and employed P. Lane, a graduate of the New 
York Institute for the Blind, as an instructor. Leaving the school in 
the care of his assistant, Mr. Champlin canvassed the state, visiting 
the blind throughout its borders, soliciting funds for the support of the 
establishment he had set up, and securing signatures to petitions praying 
the legislature to provide for the education of the blind at its next 
session.4 

When the legislature assembled in 1848, Governor Brown submitted 
a report from Mr. Champlin upon his work for the blind with a recom- 
mendation that the state assume responsibility for the work.s The 
legislature responded with "an act to aid in the establishment of an 
institution for the instruction of the blind. "^ The act required the 

' Revised Code of 1857, p. 265. ^ Ibid. 

^ Laws of Mississippi, 1858, p. 74. s Ibid., p. 23. 

3 House Journal, 1848, pp. 43-44. ^ Laws of Mississippi, 1848, pp. 153-55. 



LEGISLATION FOR SPECIAL CLASSES AND PURPOSES lOI 

governor to appoint at once a board of trustees for the institution, whose 
term of service was fixed at two years. The trustees were empowered 
to receive contributions from the state and from benevolent individuals. 
An appropriation of $2,500 for the year 1848 and an annual appropria- 
tion of $1,000 for successive years were contained in the same act. 
The trustees were authorized to purchase, contract for, or erect a building 
for the school, appoint the principal and teachers, and fix the salaries. 
Pupils were admitted free upon a certificate from their county probate 
clerk asserting that they were of good moral character and were unable 
to pay the expenses of an education. Pupils who paid tuition fees were 
required to have certificates as to character only. 

The annual appropriation for the institution was increased in 
1850 to $2,500, payable quarterly in advance upon the requisition of 
the trustees. At the same time a special appropriation of $900 was 
made to pay the balance of the purchase money for the lot on which the 
institution was located.' 

Two years later a further appropriation was authorized to meet the 
growing needs of the school, the size of the appropriation made to depend 
upon the number of pupils. The act provided that for each free student 
above ten there should be added to the annual appropriation of $2,500 
the sum of $200. This act also contained a special appropriatioh of 
$200 for the purchase of a lot adjoining the institution.^ 

In 1854 provision was made for an adequate and permanent building 
for the institution for the blind. Congress had made an appropriation 
in 1 84 1 of ID per cent of the proceeds of the sale of public lands to the 
states in whose borders the lands lay, and had placed a sum of money 
to the credit of Mississippi for lands sold within her borders.^ Mississippi 
had never recognized the right of Congress to distribute the proceeds of 
public land sales to the states, and had declined to claim her share 
of the distribution. After allowing the money to accumulate in the 
United States treasury for thirteen years, the state now came forward 
through her legislature and virtually said, "You haven't any right to 
give it to us, but if you insist, we will take it and give it to charity."'' 
The state treasurer was accordingly authorized to receive the money and 
to receipt for it. The amount was then ordered divided equally between 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1850, p. 118. 
' Ibid., 1852, pp. 92-93. 
3 United States Statute': at Large, V, 453. 

* Sec. 7 of the act specifically states that the legislature does not sanction the 
constitutionality of the act of Congress. Laws of Mississippi, 1854, p. 97. 



I02 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

the schools for the bHnd and for the deaf and dumb, to be used for the 
erection of suitable buildings for these institutions.^ The trustees were 
required to erect the buildings of both schools in "a neat and substantial 
manner, with a view to comfort and convenience, instead of show."^ 

Two other bills were passed by the legislature of 1854 in the interest 
of the Blind Institute. One of these appropriated $1,000 to purchase a 
lot adjoining the institution,^ and the other gave the superintendent of 
the school free use of the state library for his pupils.'' 

Special appropriations amounting to $2,000 were made for the 
school in 1856 in addition to the regular annual appropriation. These 
special appropriations were for repairing the building, purchasing a 
piano, other musical instruments, and necessary furniture, and for 
"sustaining the musical and mechanical departments" of the institution. 
The same act also required the boards of police of the several counties 
of the state to furnish the president of the institute the names and 
addresses of all bHnd persons in their respective counties, and to provide 
means necessary to meet the expenses of any who were found eligible 
for the institute, but were unable to pay the expenses of the trip and to 
provide suitable clothing.^ 

At an adjourned session of the legislature during the latter part of 
1856 and early months of the following year all the legislation upon the 
organization and management of the institution for the blind was 
superseded by a new act entitled, "an act to establish an institution 
for the education of the blind." The new act made the board of trustees, 
who were to be appointed by the governor and to serve for two years, a 
corporate body, with all the usual legal powers of such incorporations. 
The principal change involved in the new act was the abandonment of 
the poHcy of a standing annual appropriation and the substitution of 
the plan of special appropriations to cover the needs of the institution 
from one session of the legislature to the next. For the year 1857 
the appropriation was fixed at $7,000, which was to be used for supplying 
the institution with food, clothing, fuel lights, furniture, books, maps, 
musical instruments, other means of instruction, materials and tools 
for the manufactures by the students; also for the compensation of the 
principal, assistant teachers, matron, and for incidental expenses.^ 

' The total sum amounted to about $14,000. 

^ Laws of Mississippi, 1854, pp. 95-97. 

3 Ibid., p. 135. 4 Ibid., pp. 589-90. s Ibid., 1856, pp. 343. 

^Ibid., 1856-57 (Adjourned Session), pp. 116-18. 



LEGISLATION FOR SPECIAL CLASSES AND PURPOSES 103 

The appropriation carried in the act just discussed apparently was 
more than sufficient for the purposes named for the year. When the 
legislature met in regular session in the following November, it voted 
an appropriation of $4,000 per annum for the next two years, with the 
provision that the unused portion of the former appropriation should 
revert to the general fund in the state treasury.' In 1859 the appropria- 
tion for current expenses for the ensuing two years was raised to $6,000 
per annum.^ 

The deaf and dumb. — Mississippi's school for the deaf and dumb had 
its beginning as a branch of the Blind Institute under the act of March i' 
1854, entitled, "an act to provide for the erection of suitable buildings 
for the instruction of the deaf, dumb, and blind, and for other purposes." 
This act required the trustees of the Blind Institute to use one-half 
the money, which had been placed to the credit of Mississippi under the 
act of Congress of September 4, 1841, from the sale of public lands within 
her border, for the erection of suitable buildings for a school for the 
deaf and dumb. The trustees of the Blind Institute were given full 
control over the proposed school, and were voted an appropriation of 
$2,000 with which to pay the teachers and support the indigent pupils 
who might enter the institution.^ The trustees purchased the property 
of the Cleaver Female Institute, located in the central portion of Jackson, 
and opened the school there."* 

The management of the new institution was taken out of the hands 
of the trustees of the Blind Institute in 1856, and placed under the 
control of its own board of five members, appointed by the governor.s 
During the following year the legislature passed an act of incorporation 
for the institution for the deaf and dumb, which was parallel in all 
respects to the act passed at the same time for the Blind Institute, 
including the appropriation of $7,000.'' The trustees were authorized to 
exchange the property then used for the school for the property of 
St. Andrews' College, and an additional appropriation of $5,000 was 
made to pay the difference in the value of the property and to complete 
the buildings and fences and provide for equipment. 

The state's policy with reference to the Deaf and Dumb Institution 
was for the first few years to provide all expenses for pupils who were 

• Ibid., 1857, p. 42. ^ Ibid., 1859," p. 192. 3 Jbid., 1854, pp. 95-96. 

* Rowland, Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, I, 637. 
5 Laws of Mississippi, 1856, p. 343. 

^ Ibid., 1856-57 (Adjourned Session), pp. 114-16. 



I04 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

not able to provide for themselves, but those who were able to do so 
were to pay tuition and board. The acts of appropriation list in rather 
full detail the items of expense for which the state made provision. 
They include food, clothing, medicine, service of physician, books, 
slates, globes, maps, bedding, and incidentals.^ The distinction between 
the indigent and those who were able to pay was removed in 1857 by 
a provision in an act of that year that "hereafter the benefit of this 
institution be free to all deaf and dumb pupils resident of this state, 
of good moral character."^ The state provided also, beginning in 
November, 1858, for the payment of the traveling expenses to Jackson 
of all deaf and dumb children not in the institution who were entitled 
to its benefits.^ 

For the current expenses of the institution an annual appropriation 
of $6,000 was made in 1857 for the succeeding years.'' In i860 the 
amount was raised to $9,600.^ In addition to the annual appropriation 
for general expenses there were a few small appropriations for special 
purposes. 

Cabinet work and carpentry for boys and millinery for girls were 
added to the curriculum in i860. The sum of $500 per annum was 
appropriated for the boys' shop, which was to be supplemented by the 
proceeds obtained for the products of the shop. For the female pupils 
the appropriation was $100 per annum, which was to be used to employ 
a milliner to visit the institution and instruct the pupils.^ 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1857, p. 40; 1859-60, p. 531. 
" Ibid., 1857, p. 41. 

3 Ibid., 1858, p. 230. 

4 Ibid., 1857, pp. 40-41. 5 Ibid., 1859-60, pp. 531-33. * Ibid. 



CHAPTER IX 
SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 
LIBRARIES 

State library. — The Mississippi State Library has been gradually 
developed as the result of a series of legislative enactments beginning 
two years before the close of the territorial period. In an act approved 
November 29, 1815, the legislature "requested" the secretary of the 
territory to procure "a complete set of the acts of Congress of the 
United States of the Union, together with a Digest of laws of the several 
states of the Union, also three of the most approved Dictionaries of the 
English Language, a Bible, Jacob's Law Dictionary (American edition), 
Smith's Wealth of Nations, Montesquieu's The Spirit of Laws, Vattele's 
The Law of Nations, Tucker's Blackstone, the book called The Constitu- 
tions of the Several States, and the work called The Federalist, for the 
use of the legislature of this territory."' A year later the legislature 
passed a resolution entrusting the little library that had been secured 
to the secretary of the territory during the recesses of the legisla- 
ture.^ 

In taking over the books collected during the territorial period, 
the first general assembly of the state authorized the secretary of state 
to purchase such books as the secretary of the territory was required to 
purchase, and also to buy copies of a certain map of the United States, 
of the state of Louisiana, of the world, and of the state of Mississippi.^ 

With the books purchased from year to year under this act as a 
nucleus, the legislature twenty years later estabhshed the state Hbrary. 
The latter act was entitled, "An act to provide for a State Library," 
and was approved by the governor on February 15, 1838. An initial 
appropriation of $3,000 was made for the library, and provision for its 
gradual enlargement was made by an annual appropriation of $1,000. 
There was also an allowance of $500 per annum for contingent expenses. 
The library was placed under the control of a board of trustees con- 
sisting of the governor, the judges of the high court of errors and appeals, 

' Digest, 1816, p. 289. 

^ Statutes of Mississippi Territory, 1816, Mississippi State Archives, Series D, 
No. II. 

3 Mississippi State Archives, Series I, No. i. 

I OS 



lo6 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

the chancellor of the superior court of chancery, the secretary of state, 
the auditor, and the attorney-general/ 

In 1846 provision was made for the interchange of laws, reports, and 
legislative documents with other states of the Union for the benefit of 
the library. There was also a special appropriation of $2,000 allowed 
in the same act for debts due by the state for the library.^ 

An act "for the better regulation of the state library," passed in 
1848, provided that only one-fifth of the annual appropriation should 
be expended for law books, and the balance for "such political, historical, 
scientific, philosophical, and miscellaneous books, manuscripts, maps, 
etc.," as the trustees should think proper.^ 

Library societies. — The number of incorporated libraries in the state 
prior to i860 was small. The fact that there were few towns and no 
cities in the state before the Civil War and that the rural population 
was sparse made it difficult for a public library to serve acceptably a 
sufficient constituency to justify its maintenance.'' Of the fourteen 
charters granted by the legislature to Hbrary societies about one-half of 
them indicate by their names that they hoped to serve an entire county. 

Another possible explanation of the brevity of the list is that it may 
be incomplete. From 1848 to 1857 library associations and other speci- 
fied organizations were permitted to secure charters through the clerks 
of the county probate courts.^ The records of such charters, if any were 
secured in this way, were kept in the county court-houses of the respective 
counties, and in many counties have been lost or destroyed by fires- 
It is likely, however, that few, if any, libraries were incorporated by the 
probate clerks, for the incorporation of libraries, it appears, had ceased 
seven years before the passage of the act conferring this power upon the 
county officials. The last library association to receive a charter from 
the legislature was incorporated in 1841.^ Furthermore, from 1857 to 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1838, pp. 165-66. 

' Ibid., 1846, p. 183. 

3 Ibid., 1848, pp. 148-51. A catalogue of the State Library fills fifty-four 
pages in the Senate Journal of 1856. Thirty-one pages are devoted to listing 
books on law, and the remainder is divided among the following classifications: 
Medical; PoKtics and Pohtical Economy; History; Biography; Geography; Voyages 
and Travels; Natural History; Agriculture and Horticulture; Arts and Sciences; 
Polite Literature; Theology and Ecclesiastical History; Phrenology, Education, 
and Criticism; Miscellaneous; Maps; Pamphlets and Manuscripts. 

4 See chap, i, pp. 3-6. 

sLaws of Mississippi, 1848, pp. 103-4. See also p. 64 of this study. 
« Ibid., 1841, pp. 287-88. 



SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 107 

i860, when the power of incorporation had been taken from the probate 
clerks and given to the governor, no charters were granted for libraries.' 

Most of the societies controlling libraries were also literary or 
debating societies. As a rule they were permitted to own property to 
the amount of $30,000, two-thirds of which had to be personal property. 
In some instances the limit was placed at smaller figures. 

In the following list the names of all the library associations incor- 
porated by legislative enactment are given, with the name of the county 
in which each was located and the year of incorporation. 

Library Societies Incorporated by Legislative Enactment 

Jacksonian Library Society, Wilkinson* 181 5 

Franklin Debating and Library Society, Wilkinson 1818 

Franklin Debating and Library Society (new charter) 1819 

Mississippi Literary and Library Company of Gibson Port, Claiborne. . 1818 

Library Society of Greene County, Greene 1818 

Liberty Debating and Library Society, Amite 1820 

Pike Library Society, Pike 1821 

Franklin Library Society, Franklin 1828 

Brandon Library Society, Rankin 1830 

Meridian Springs Library Society, Hinds 1831 

Amite Library and Debating Society, Amite 1839 

Amite Library and Debating Society (rechartered with higher property 

limit), Amite 1840 

Franklin Library and Debating Society, Franklin 1840 

Yazoo Library Association, Yazoo 1840 

Tchula Library and Debating Society, Holmes 1840 

Holly Springs Library and Debating Society, Marshall 1841 

* Incorporated in sec. 4 of the act to incorporate Wilkinson Academy. Ms. laws, Territorial 
Archives, Series D, No. lo. 

SOCIETIES FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH 

There were three charters granted to societies in Mississippi which 
had for their purpose the assistance of the youth of the state in secur- 
ing an education. The earliest of these was the Harmony Society of 
Jefferson County, incorporated in 1823. Its purpose, as declared in its 
charter, was the promotion of "piety, morality, and the education of 
the youth of Jefferson County."^ A similar society, the Yazoo Edu- 
cational Association, was incorporated in i860. Its purpose was stated 
in the charter to be "the education of the boys of Yazoo County." 

' The charters granted by the governor are preserved in the original record book 
in the oiiSce of the secretary of state. 

^ Laws of Mississippi, 1822-23, pp. 76-77. 



Io8 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

It was permitted to own property to the amount of $50,000.' In 1859 
there was incorporated the Ministerial Educational Society for the 
education of ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church. The society 
was under the supervision of the Mississippi conference. It proposed 
to raise funds by an annual membership fee of fifty cents, the proceeds 
from which were to be lent or invested and the interest, only, to be used, 
until the total funds should amount to the property limit of $50,000.^ 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Several other societies were incorporated in Mississippi for purposes 
either directly or indirectly related to the education of the citizenship 
of the state. The list of these societies is as follows: 

Mississippi Society for the Acquirement and Dissemination of Useful 

Knowledge 1803 

Natchez Mechanical Society 1809 

Amite Union Society (for the acquirement and dissemination of useful 

knowledge) 1820 

Philomathean Society 1825 

Pontotoc Athenaeum 1843 

Lexington Literary and Debating Society 1846 

Historical Society of Mississippi 1858 

Chatawa Lyceum Hall Association i860 

Phi Chapter of the Delta Psi Fraternity at Oxford i860 

' Laws of Mississippi, i860, pp. 470-71. 

^ Original Record of Incorporations from 1857 to 1883, pp. 82-83. This record 
book is in the office of the secretary of state at Jackson, Miss. 



CHAPTER X 

THE ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS 
AND THE CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS 

SCHOOL CONTROL AND SUPERVISION 

Very little was accomplished in Mississippi before i860 toward 
developing any efficient system of control and supervision of schools. 
The first attempt to provide for supervision was made in 1821. The 
county school commissioners, whose prime duty was to supervise the 
education of poor children at the expense of the Literary Fund/ were 
required to appoint a committee from their body to visit all seminaries of 
learning, academies, and common schools within their respective counties, 
"to examine into the qualifications of the teachers or school masters to 
educate their pupils in the branches of learning taught in such schools, 
and also their character for morality and sobriety; the discipline and 
order observed in their schools; the number of scholars, and how far 
advanced in education; and to report the same to president and 
directors of the Literary Fund."^ This provision of the Literary Fund 
act remained upon the statutes until the passage of the common school 
act in 1846. 

The weakness of this act as it relates to supervision is readily seen. 
No provision was made to compel the county commissioners or their 
committee of visitors to perform the duties assigned, or to pay them for 
their services. Moreover, they had no authority over the schools or 
teachers of the schools they were required to visit. In the case of 
academies and colleges the boards of trustees were supreme; in the 
common schools all real power was conferred upon the township trustees. 
Apparently the only recourse the county commissioners had, when they 
did not approve a school, was to refuse to allow any of the poor children 
educated under their supervision to attend that school. 

The authority of the township trustees over the common schools 
was conferred by the act of January 9, 1824.^ This act gave the trustees 
complete control over the schools of their respective townships with 
the power to locate the schools, to employ and discharge teachers, to 

' i\n interpretation of this act as a whole may be found on pp. 27-29. 
* Sec. 13 of the act, Laws of Mississippi, 1821, pp. 37-44. 
3 See p. 30 for the interpretation of this act. 

109 



no EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

make all such rules and regulations as they might deem expedient 
"not contrary to law, nor to the equal privileges of the resident heads 
of families." These trustees also were given complete control of school 
lands and township school funds, and were authorized to pay teachers' 
salaries "in whole or in part out of any money in their treasurer's hands. "^ 

For twenty-two years the supreme authority of the township trustees 
over the schools of their respective townships was unquestioned. But 
when the common school system of 1846 was adopted, it took from 
the trustees the greater part of their power. They retained the right 
to employ and to discharge teachers and to make regulations for the 
government of the schools, but control of the school lands and school 
funds, the power to locate schools, to determine the qualifications of 
teachers, make contracts with them, and pay salaries, in whole or in 
part, and to have "the general superintendence" of the common schools 
was given to the county boards of school commissioners created by the 
act of 1846.^ 

In an effort to give greater uniformity to the school work of the 
state, the act of 1846 made the secretary of state ex officio head of the 
school system with the title of general school commissioner. His 
duties, however, were chiefly clerical, and he had no real power. Twice 
in each year, in June and December, the county commissioners of 
education were required to make a report to him showing for their 
respective counties "the situation of schools and school funds; the 
number of scholars attending schools; the number of teachers; and the 
amount paid to teachers out of the sixteenth section fund, the common 
school fund, and by private individuals."^ The general school com- 
missioner was required to preserve the reports of the county commis- 
sioners and to publish in January and July abstracts summarizing the 
educational work of the state as a whole. For these services he was 
allowed $500 a year in addition to his salary as secretary of state.4 

When the school system of 1846 went to pieces,^ the counties of the 
state adopted various plans of control and supervision, individual 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1824, pp. 9-12. 

^ See pp. 42-44. 3 Sec. 15 of act. Laws of Mississippi, 1846, pp. 98-104. 

^ Sec. 16 of act. When the legislature assembled in 1848 the general school 
commissioner made a report in w^hich he explained why he had not published the 
semiannual abstracts required by law. Only a very few of the county commissioners 
had made reports to him. He called the attention of the legislature to the fact that 
there was no means of compeUing the county commissioners to report. House Journal, 
1848, pp. 1030-36. 

5 See pp. 46-48. 



ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS 



III 



counties often trying several plans during the twelve years from 1848 

to i860. The majority of the counties, however, for at least a part 

of the time, continued under the provisions of the act of 1846, except 

TABLE IX* 

Counties in Which County Commissioners of Education Were Empowered to 
Control and Supervise Schools 



Counties 


Period 


Counties 


Period 


Adams 


1848- 
1848-50 

1858- 

1852- 
1848- 
1848-60 
1848-52)1860- 
1848-56 
1848- 
1848- 
1848- 
1848-58 
1848-54 
1848- 
1848-52 

i848-54;i856- 

1848- 
1848-52 ;i86o- 

1848-54 

1848- 

1848-50 


Leake 


1848- 


Attala 


Marion 


1848- 


Carroll 


Marshall 


1848- 


Calhoun 


Monroe 


i848-!Co 


Chickasaw 


Oktibbeha 


1848- 
1848- 
1848-58 
1848-60 


Choctaw 


Panola 


Clarke 


Perry 


Coahoma 


Pike 


Copiah 


Pontotoc 


1848- 


De Soto 


Rankin 


1848-50 

1848-50 

1848-58 

1858- 

1848- 


Franklin 


Simpson 


Greene 


Smith 


Hancock 


Tallahatchie 


Harrison 


TioDah 


Issaquena 


Tishomingo 


1848-54)1856- 
1848-50 
1848-50 
1848- 


Itawamba 


Washington 


Jackson 


Warren 


Tasper 


Wayne 


Jones 


Yalobusha 


1856- 
1848- 


Lafayette 


Yazoo 


Lauderdale 









* Where only one date is given in Tables IX-XIV the act continued in force beyond the period 
covered in this study. 

TABLE X 

CouTNTiES Which Returned to Township Control Without Modification 

from 1848 TO i860 



Counties 

Attala 

Bolivar 

Carroll 

Choctaw 

Claiborne 

Clarke 

Coahoma 

Covington 

Franklin 

Hinds 

Holmes 

Issaquena 

Itawamba 

Jasper 

Kemper 

Lauderdale 



Period 



850- 

848- 

848-58 

860- 

848- 

852-60 

856- 

848- 

856- 

850- 

850- 

852- 

858- 

852- 

848- 

85a- 



Counties 

Lowndes 

Madison 

Monroe 

Neshoba 

Newton 

Noxubee 

Rankin 

Scott 

Simpson 

Smith 

Sunflower 

Tallahatchie . . . 

Warren 

Winston 

Yalobusha 



Period 



850- 



850- 

848-50 

856- 



848-58 
85c>- 
848- 
848-56 



112 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

TABLE XI 

Counties in Which Schools Were Controlled by Township Trustees and 
Visited and Supervised by Coxjnty Sitperintendents 



Counties 


Period 


Counties 


Period 


Amite 


1848-50 
1848-50 
1848-50 
1848- 


Lawrence 

*Pike 


1848-50 


Hinds 


1860- 




Tunica 


1848- 




Wilkinson 


1848- 









* The county superintendent in Pike County divided authority with the township trustees, taking 
over the powers usually given to county commissioners of education. 

TABLE XII 

Coutmties in Which Schools Were Controlled by Township Trustees and 
Teachers' Institutes Were Held by County Superintendents 



Counties 


Period 


Counties 


Period 


Itawamba 


1854-56 


Tishomingo 


1854-56 







TABLE XIII 
Counties in Which Schools Were Controlled by County Boards of Police 



Counties 


Period 


Counties 


Period 


Amite 


i85c^ 
1850- 
1850-56 


Scott 


1850- 
1850- 


Lawrence 


Washington 


Simpson 









TABLE XIV 

Counties in Which Schools Were Controlled by Separate Boards of Three 
Members for Each Police District of the Counties 



Counties 


Period 


Counties 


Period 


Greene 


1858- 
1854- 


Jones 

Perry 


1854- 
1858- 


Hancock 





that reports to the general school commissioner in some counties were 
not required, and where they were legally required, the provision was 
not enforced. There was a marked tendency toward returning the 
control of schools to the township trustees, and by i860 about one-half 
of the counties had restored the trustees to all their old authority. 
Seven of the counties that returned to township control in 1848 created 



ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS 113 

the office of county superintendent,' but some of them afterwards 
abolished this office. In these counties the superintendent was required 
to visit each public school in his county at least once every three months. 
He was to examine the record kept by the teacher and all other matters 
that he might deem important touching the situation — discipline, mode 
of teaching, and improvement thereof. He was also required to keep 
a journal of all such examinations, and of his remarks thereon, which 
should be open to all school officers of the school district concerned, and 
to make a report thereon annually to the state school commissioner. 
Two other plans for control of schools adopted by a few counties were: 
(i) the powers of commissioners were transferred to the county boards 
of police; (2) boards of three trustees or commissioners for each of the 
five police districts of the county were substituted for the county 
commissioners. 

In the tables on pages 11 1 and 112 the method of control and 
supervision for each county of the state is shown for the period from 
1848 to i860. 

CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS 

The first legislation that attempted to set a standard for teachers in 
Mississippi is to be found in the act to establish the Literary Fund, 
passed in 182 1, and reads as follows: 

No schoolmaster shall be permitted to take charge of a seminary of learning 
in this state, who shall not produce to the president and directors of the literary 
fund, testimonials that he is a citizen of the United States, and qualified to 
teach the Greek and Latin languages, and that he is of good moral character: 
Provided, That it shall not be required, that the teacher of a common school 
shall be qualified to teach the Greek and Latin languages.^ 

The proviso seems to indicate that the expression, "seminary of 
learning," is used in a broad sense to include schools of all grades, but 
that no literary qualifications were to be required of the teacher of a 
common school. He needed only to show that he was a citizen of the 
United States and was of good moral character. 

In 1824 the township trustees were authorized to employ "suitable 
persons" as teachers, but no restrictions were placed upon their judgment 
as to what qualffications made a person suitable for such employment, 
other than the provisions just quoted from the act of 1821.'' 

' Hinds, Holmes, Jefferson, Lawrence, Tunica, Wilkinson, and Amite. See 
chap. V, p. 46. 

^ Sec. 13 of act. See pp. 27-29. 

3 Laws of Mississippi, 1824, pp. 9-12. See sec. 3. 



114 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

No further progress was made toward the examination and certifica- 
tion of teachers until 1846. In that year the county commissioners of 
education were required to Hcense such teachers as they might think 
"quahfied to teach the various branches of an EngHsh education" in 
the common schools, and no teacher was permitted to receive money 
from the common school funds without having secured such a license.^ 

The natural result of the disintegration of the public-school system 
adopted in 1846 was that some counties should progress and others 
should retrograde. To a certain extent this is what happened in the 
matter of certification of teachers. As a rule the counties which returned 
to the plan of township control of schools without county superintendents 
ceased to require that teachers should be licensed.^ Holmes County was 
a notable exception to this rule.^ The counties which retained the 
method of control provided in the act of 1846 generally continued the 
provisions for licensing teachers, in most cases, without change. In 
some counties the requirements for license were made more definite. 
The counties of Amite, Hinds, Holmes, Jefi'erson, Lawrence, Tunica, 
and Washington in 1848 put the duty of examining teachers upon the 
county superintendents, and specified that they should be examined in 
any subjects they thought themselves qualified to teach, that the 
subjects in which they were found qualified should be written in the 
license, that teachers should not be allowed to teach any subject not 
specified in their licenses, and that no license should be granted to 
applicants not qualified to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic.^ 
Holmes County, in 1850, substituted a board of three examiners, 
appointed by the board of police, for the county superintendent in the 
certification of teachers. ^ In Carroll, Copiah, and Harrison counties 
the subjects upon which teachers must be examined were specified in 
1858 as follows: spelling, reading, writing, geography, and English 
grammar.^ In Tishomingo County after 1858 it was required that a 
teacher "shall be examined and found proficient to teach all the 
branches he had proposed to teach in his school, and which shall at 
least amount to the rudiments of an English education. "^ 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1846, p. 99. 

' See Table X, p. 1 1 1 . 

3 Laws of Mississippi, 1850, pp. 160-67, sec. 12. 

* Ibid., 1848, pp. 238-43, sec. 16. 

^ Ibid., 1850, pp. 160-67, sec. 12. 

^ Ibid., 1858 (November), pp. 94-99. 

' Ibid., p. 211. 



CHAPTER XI 

FEDERAL AND STATE AID TO EDUCATION 

FEDERAL GRANTS 

The several grants of the federal government to the aid of education 
have been discussed in connection with the immediate objects for which 
the grants were made. In this chapter it will be sufficient to group 
together and briefly summarize the federal legislation upon this subject. 

By a series of acts, beginning in 1803, Congress reserved for common 
schools the sixteenth sections of all townships in the state, except in 
those of the Chickasaw cession of 1832.' In the old Natchez district 
and in the Florida annexation of 181 2, some of the sixteenth sections 
were claimed by private individuals by virtue of British or Spanish 
grants. Most of the townships whose sixteenth sections were pre- 
occupied, however, found relief in the act of 1806, which permitted any 
such township to select any other section of public land within its 
borders in lieu of its sixteenth section, and if there were no other section 
of public land within its limits, to locate a section for school purposes 
in any adjoining township.^ As a result of these several acts almost 
every township outside of the Chickasaw cession had its own school 
section, managed and controlled by its own township board of trustees. 

After the Chickasaw cession had been opened for settlement. Con- 
gress, in 1836, reserved instead of the sixteenth sections a quantity of 
land equal to one thirty-sixth of the total area of the lands ceded by 
the Chickasaws, to be selected by the secretary of the treasury in sec- 
tions, half-sections, and quarter-sections from any unsold public lands 
in the state, which lands were to vest in the state for the use of the 
Chickasaw counties.^ The selections made by the secretary of the 
treasury seem to have given general dissatisfaction, and the state failed 
to receive them. In 1842, in response to a memorial from the legis- 
lature. Congress authorized the governor of Mississippi to select the 
lands reserved for the benefit of schools in the Chickasaw counties.'' The 
legislature thereupon authorized the governor to appoint a board of 
commissioners to examine the public lands and recommend tracts for 

• See chap, iii, pp. 25-26. 

' Ibid. 

3 United Slates Statutes at Large, V, 116. 1 1bid., V, 490-91. 

115 



Il6 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

reservation.' The lands previously located by the secretary of the treas- 
ury were released and those selections "made or hereafter to be made by 
the governor" were received. These lands were under the control of 
the legislature instead of local boards as in the other parts of the state. 

The first federal grant to higher education in Mississippi was made 
to Jefferson College in 1803. It carried with it thirty-six sections of 
land to be located by the secretary of the treasury, and two town lots 
in Natchez, with an outlet adjoining, not exceeding thirty acres, to be 
located by the governor of Mississippi Territory.^ The township was 
located on the Tombigbee River, within the borders of the present 
state of Alabama. Congress permitted the trustees of the college to 
surrender these lands in 1832 and substitute an equal quantity of land 
within the state of Mississippi, to be located by the purchasers of the 
land. The trustees were thus authorized to sell any tract of public 
land in the state to any person who wanted that particular tract until 
they had sold a quantity equal to the original grant of thirty-six sections. 
Congress fixed the price of these lands at $6 . 50 an acre, and permitted 
the trustees to receive payment from purchasers in annual instalments.^ 

The "Seminary Lands," a second township of land for the aid of 
higher education, were granted in 1819, and the state was made trustee 
of the lands. This grant has been discussed in the chapter "Higher 
Education in Mississippi from 181 7 to i860."'' 

One other federal grant to the state was used for an educational 
purpose. The funds appropriated in 1841 to the state as its share of 
the distribution of the proceeds of the sale of public lands were accepted 
in 1854 and divided equally between the institutions for the blind and 
for the deaf and dumb.^ 

SUPPORT OF COMMON SCHOOLS 

Common schools in Mississippi received partial support from com- 
mon school funds, from indirect taxes, from direct taxes, and from 
appropriations from the general fund in the state treasury. 

I. COMMON SCHOOL FUNDS 

There were four distinct funds prior to the Civil War that contributed 
to the support of common schools. Two of these, the Sixteenth Sec- 
tion Fund and the Chickasaw Fund, were derived from the federal land 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1844, pp. 238-40. 
^ United States Statutes at Large, II, 234. 
3 Ibid., VI, 484-85. " See p. 79. s See p. loi. 



FEDERAL AND STATE AID TO EDUCATION II7 

grants; the other two, the Literary Fund and the county school funds, 
usually referred to as the Common School Fund, were the result of state 
appropriation. To prevent confusion it seems advisable to define 
each of these funds, but only the latter two require further discussion 
than has been given in other chapters.' The funds may be distinguished 
as follows: 

1. Sixteenth Section Fund. — This is a generic name for all township 
funds realized from the leasing of lands donated by the national govern- 
ment for the endowment of common schools m Mississippi outside of 
the Chickasaw cession. It has been shown in chapter iv of this study 
that by i860 this fund had been lost to nearly all the townships through 
bad investments, poorly secured loans, or expenditures for temporary 
needs of the schools. 

2. Chickasaw Fund. — This fund represents the sum of money 
realized from the sale of public lands given by the national government 
to the state for the endowment of common schools in the Chickasaw 
counties. These lands were sold for $6.00 an acre, the state used the 
fund, and paid interest to the Chickasaw counties in proportion to 
their area.^ 

3. Literary Ftind. — This fund was created by the Mississippi general 
assembly in 182 1 by an act which appropriated "to the encouragement 
of learning" all escheats, confiscations, forfeitures, and "all personal 
property accruing to the state as derelict," and all fines assessed by 
any court in the state, unless otherwise appropriated. 

The act of 182 1 provided that the revenue accruing from the sources 
named should be under the control of a corporation, which was called 
"The President and Directors of the Literary Fund." This corporation 
was composed of the governor of the state, the lieutenant-governor, the 
secretary of state, the attorney general, the presiding judge of the 
supreme court, the chancellor of the state, and three persons to be chosen 
by the general assembly. The president and directors were required 

^ Swift, A History of Public Permanent Common School Funds in the United Stales, 
confuses the different funds of this state. He begins his chapter on Mississippi school 
funds with the following statements: "It would appear that Sixteenth Section Fund 
is the title applied officially today to what was originally known as the Literary Fund. 
It would be more clear to call this fund the Choctaw Fund." The confusion of 
Sixteenth Section Fimd and the Literary Fund seems inexcusable. As to the sug- 
gestion that the Sixteenth Section Fund be called the Choctaw Fund it might be 
observed that the act of 1803, reserving sixteenth sections, applied at that time only 
to the Natchez district, which was never Choctaw territory. 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1856, p. 141. 



Il8 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

to appoint five or more commissioners of education in each county 
who should superintend the education of poor children in their respec- 
tive counties. These commissioners were to determine "what number 
of poor children" they would educate, to send such children to any 
convenient school to be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, and to 
draw upon the Literary Fund to pay their tuition. The portion of the 
fund not required for the education of the poor was to accumulate as 
an endowment for common schools. When the fund should amount to 
$50,000 it was to be distributed to the counties of the state.' 

The general assembly in 1826 ordered the Literary Fund to the 
amount of $12,000 to be invested in stock of the Bank of Mississippi, 
and in 1828 authorized the governor to invest the remainder of the 
fund, as it came in, in this bank.^ In 1831 the stock of the Bank of 
Mississippi held by the Literary Fund was ordered sold and the pro- 
ceeds invested in stock of the Planters' Bank.^ By 1833 the fund had 
amounted to $50,000, and under the act creating it should have been 
distributed to the counties. The legislature, however, in ordering the 
distribution, modified the act so that the money should remain part of 
the funded stock of the Planters' Bank, and only the shares should be 
distributed to the counties on the books of the bank. This distribution 
was made on a basis of the white population of the several counties. 
The dividends only were actually distributed to the counties." As 
additional sums accrued to the Literary Fund each year they were 
invested in Planters' Bank stock, of which there seems to have been 
an unhmited supply. When the bank failed, the entire accumulated 
fund was lost, and the revenue that had gone to the fund under the act 
of 1 82 1 was transferred in 1839 to the support of academies.^ 

4. County Common School Funds. — These funds, frequently called 
after 1846 by the generic phrase "Common School Fund," were of 
two classes: those in which the principal was used for common schools, 
and those which were invested and the interest only applied to educa- 
tional purposes. They may be defined as all funds created in the vari- 
ous counties by the act of 1846 and subsequent special legislation from 
escheats, fines, and license fees, supplemented in some cases by direct 
taxation within the several counties. ' 

The Common School Fund created by the act of 1846 was of the 
first class mentioned above. Under the provisions of section 7 of this 

' Hutchinson, Code of Mississippi, p. 205. 

'Laws of Mississippi, 1826, p. 129; 1828, p. 130. 

3 Hutchinson, op. cit., p. 212. 

t Laws of Mississippi, 1824-38, pp. 460-62. s Ibid., 1839, pp. 38-40. See p. ^^. 



FEDERAL AND STATE AID TO EDUCATION iig 

act all fines, forfeitures, and amercements that were decreed, ordered, 
or adjudged by any court in the state, and all moneys arising from 
licenses granted to hawkers and peddlers, keepers of billiard tables, 
retailers of vinous and spirituous liquors, and brokers, were to be paid 
into the treasuries of the counties in which they were collected and 
were to constitute the County Common School Fund. Those counties 
in which there was a school tax levy were to include the resulting tax in 
the fund. In the majority of the counties of the state a county school 
fund of this type was maintained continuously from 1846 until i860. 

The second class of County Common School Funds might be called 
the County Endowment Funds. They were created by special acts of 
the legislature providing educational laws for various counties from 
1850 to i860. The source of revenue for these funds and the methods 
of management differed in the several counties that possessed them. 
In all cases, however, the funds were derived from some, if not all, of 
the following sources: escheats, fines, and license fees. As a rule, the 
counties which created these endowment funds were the more backward 
counties. They levied no tax for schools and, it appears, made no 
serious effort to support them at public expense. The funds of this 
class in all cases were lent under the restrictions provided for the six- 
teenth section funds, and the interest only could be used for educational 
purposes. In some few cases the interest itself was not used, but was 
added to the fund and lent out.' In other counties the interest from 
the fund was used to pay the tuition of poor children in private schools.^ 
Sometimes the counties distributed the funds to the townships, under a 
requirement that the township trustees should put their respective por- 
tions at interest and manage them as township endowment funds. ^ 

II. TAXATION FOR COMMON SCHOOLS 

Indirect taxation for common schools was more popular and more 
prevalent than direct taxation. With the exception of a period of 
seven years indirect taxes were levied for the support of common school 
funds from 1821 to i860. These taxes provided the source of revenue 
for the Literary Fund from 182 1 to 1839 and for the common school 
funds from 1846 to i860, and have been mentioned in the discussion 

' Sec. 7 of act for Jones County, Laws of Mississippi, 1850, pp. 226-28. 

' Act for Scott County, Laws of Mississippi, 1850, p. 147. 

3 The policy of lending the common school fund was pursued for varying periods 
of time in the following counties: Coahoma, Choctaw, Clarke, Franklin, Greene, 
Itawamba, Jasper, Jones, Lafayette, Madison, Oktibbeha, Panola, Perry, Pontotoc, 
Scott, Simpson, Smith, Tishomingo, and Yalobusha. 



I20 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

of those funds. It should be observed that for the whole period from 
1821 to i860 that escheats, confiscations, forfeitures, fines assessed in 
any court were appropriated for educational purposes, and that license 
fees required of peddlers, brokers, keepers of bilhard tables, and retailers 
of alcoholic liquors, were devoted to common schools after 1846. There 
are no statistics available to indicate how much accrued to the various 
school funds from these sources, but the total sum must have been 
considerable. The amount of the fees required for license from the 
peddlers, brokers, keepers of billiard tables, and liquor dealers in 1848 
was as follows:^ 

Hawkers and peddlers, per annum $ 10 to $ 50 

Brokers, per annum 100 

Keepers of billiard tables, per annum 100 

Retailers of liquors (towns), per annum 250 to 1,000 

Retailers of liquors (country), per annum .... 50 to 1,000 

The first attempt at direct taxation in the interest of common 
schools was made in 182 1 in the law creating the Literary Fund.^ This 
feature of the law was so unpopular that the section providing for the 
tax was repealed in 1823 and the tax that had been collected under the 
act in 1822 was ordered returned to the counties from which it came.^ 
In 1830 a second attempt to levy a direct tax for the Literary Fund 
also came to grief.'' The act, approved in February of this year, was 
repealed in the following December.^ No further attempt to impose 
direct taxation for school purposes was made until 1846. It has been 
observed that the school law of that year authorized a permissive school 
tax equal to the state tax for general purposes, which could be levied 
by the county boards of police only upon the initiative of the citizens 
of the several townships in their respective counties.^ In the school 
legislation of 1848 and subsequent years, the provision for the initiative 
was repealed in a number of counties, leaving the boards of police free 
to levy a school tax if they thought fit. In other counties a school tax 
was made compulsory, and in some counties a permissive township tax 
was authorized in addition to the county school tax. Some counties 
abandoned the principal of direct taxation in toto, and others acting 
under the permissive laws, doutless, never levied a school tax. Table XV 

' Hutchinson, op. cit., pp. 183, 270, 471, 493. 

- Laws of Mississippi, 1821, p. 27. 

3 Ibid., 1822-23, p. 103. 5 Ibid. (November), p. 19. 

< Ibid., 1830, p. 38. * See interpretation of this act, pp. 42-44. 



FEDERAL AND STATE AID TO EDUCATION 



121 



TABLE XV* 

An Analysis of Legislation Regarding Direct Taxation for Common Schools 
IN the Several Counties from 1848 to i860 



County 


Compulsory County 
Tax 


Permissive County 
Tax 


Permissive 
Township Tax 


Adams 




25% (1848-) 




Amite 


25% (1848-) 




Attala 


25% (1848-50) 




Bolivar 






Calhoun 








Carroll 


Sufficient to pay tui- 
tion of all educable 
children (1858-) 






Chickasaw 


25%(i848-56);i858- 
25% (1848-56) 




Choctaw 






Claiborne 


25% (i85c^)1I 




Clarke 


25% (1848-60) 
25% (1848-56): 
50% (1856-) 
25% (1848-58) 

50% (1856-) 
25% (1848-56) 
25% (1848-) 

25% (1848-) 
25% (1848-) 
25% (1848-58) 




Coahoma 




50% (i86c^)J 


Copiah 


Same as Carroll 

(1858-59); 50% 

(1859-) 


Covington 


50% (1856-) 


De Soto 




Franklin 






Greene 




tain free schools, 12 

months or less 

(1854-) 


Hancock 






Harrison 


Same as Carroll 

(1858-) 
25% (i848-)t 
25% (1848-) 




Hinds 


75% (i85<^)t 
50% (i85c^)t 


Holmes 




Issaquena 


25% (1848-) 
25% (1848-56) 
25% (1848-) 
25% (1848-60) 


Itawamba 






Jackson 






Jasper 






Jefferson 


25% (1848-) 


50% (1850-) 


Jones 


25% (1848-50) 


Kemper 






Lafayette 




25% (1848-56) 
25% (1848-) 




Lauderdale 






Lawrence 


25% (1848-50) 




Leake 


25% (1848-) 




Lowndes 






Madison 


25% (i85o-)t 




75% (i85o-)t 


Marion 


25% (1848-) 
25% (1848-56) 
25% (1848-50) 


Marshall 






Monroe 






Nashoba 






Newton 








Noxubee 








Oktibbeha 




25% (1848-56) 
25% (1848-) 
25% (1848-) 




Panola 






Perry 













122 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 
TABLE ^V— Continued 



County 



Compulsory County 
Tax 



Permissive County 
Tax 



Permissive 
Township Tax 



Pike 

Pontotoc . 
Rankin. . 

Scott 

Simpson . 



25% (1848-) 
25% (1848-56) 
25% (1848-S0) 



Smith 

Sunflower. . . 
Tallahatchie . 

Tippah 

Tishomingo . 

Tunica 

Warren 

Washington . 

Wayne 

Wilkinson . . . 
Winston .... 
Yalobusha. . 
Yazoo 



25% (1848-56); 
50% (1856-) 
25% (1848-) 



50% (1856-) 



25% (1848-) 
25% (i85o-)t 



25% (1848-56) 
25% (1848-56) 



25% (1848-) 
25-100% '(i850-)t 



25% (1848-50) 
25% (1848-) 
25% (1848-) 



50% (i85o-)t 



* Rate of taxation is given in percentage of state tax for general purposes. Duration of act authoriz- 
ing or requiring tax levy indicated in parentheses after each statement of rate. 
t Must be approved at referendum election before the tax can be levied. 
X Must be initiated by petition from majority of heads of families. 
11 Annual referendum required 1830-54. 

presents an analysis of the school legislation from 1848 to r86o as it 
bears on the question of direct taxation, showing the nature of the law 
on this question as it applied to each county during the whole period. 
Counties for which the table gives no data, like Bolivar and Newton, 
had no law authorizing a direct school tax at any time during the twelve 
years.' 

III. APPROPRIATIONS FROM THE GENERAL FUND 

The legislature of 1850 passed an act entitled, "an act to promote 
common schools in the state." The purpose was evidently twofold: 
to provide much needed financial assistance for the common schools, 
and to arouse the several counties to keener efforts in behalf of their 
schools. Under this act an initial sum of $200,000 and subsequent 
annual sums of $50,000 were appropriated "out of any monies in the 
treasury of the State" for distribution to the several counties of the 
state for common school purposes.^ The money was to be used in 

' The rate of taxation is stated in the table as in the acts themselves, in terms of 
the state tax for general purposes. The tax rates varied during the period. In 
1848 the land tax was 2§ mills, in addition to which there were varying rates of 
personal property taxes. 

= Laws of Mississippi, 1850 (Regular Session), p. 67. 



FEDERAL AND STATE AID TO EDUCATION 123 

some counties for improvement or current expenses of schools; in others, 
to be added to the county endowment funds for elementary education. 
The distribution was to be made upon the basis of the number of white 
children between the ages of six and twenty years in the several counties, 
but no county was to have a share unless it levied a special school tax 
amounting to at least one-fourth of its share of the state appropriation. 
Some delay seems to have been encountered in getting the enumera- 
tion of school children from the counties that qualified to participate 
in the distribution. When the legislature met in 1852, no distribution 
of funds had been made. This legislature, having made several minor 
amendments to the act of their predecessors, ordered the distribution of 
the initial appropriation of $200,000, and also the two annual appropria- 
tions for the years 185 1 and 1852, making the total appropriation for that 
year $300,000.* The state auditor's reports show that $282,989 . 77 of the 
amount was disbursed in 1852, $2,975.32 in 1853, and $13,801.49 in 
1854, making the total distribution $299,766.58.^ The amended act 
of 1852 suspended the annual distribution of $50,000 for the year 1853, 
with the provision that it should be resumed April i, 1854, but the 
reports of the auditor for the years following do not show a resumption 
of disbursements. The act was, in effect, repealed in 1857 by being 
omitted from the Revised Code of that year. 

STATE AID FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 
I. LOTTERIES 

The practice of permitting the trustees of schools to raise funds by 
means of lotteries began in Mississippi with the first act of the terri- 
torial assembly upon the question of education — the incorporation of 
Jefferson College.^ SLx of the eight academies incorporated during the 
territorial period were granted the privilege of raising in this manner 
amounts varying from $1,000 to $5,000. The general assembly passed 
an act upon gaming in 1822, which forbade the holding of lotteries, 
except when authorized by a special act of the assembly. The practice 
of permitting academies to raise funds in this way was not discontinued, 

' Ibid., 1852, pp. 156-57. See also Barnard, The American Journal of Education, 
I, 447- 

* Auditor's Reports, House Journal, 1854, p. 34, and Senate Journal, 1856, p. 40. 
The entire disbursement for 1854 represented delayed settlements with the counties 
of De Soto and Rankin. 

3 The propriety of including lotteries under state aid may be questioned. It 
seems to the writer that they were in effect an indirect tax upon the citizenry of the 
state, and may, therefore, be included under this head. 



124 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

however, until 1833. In Table XVI the limit placed upon the lottery- 
privilege of the academies incorporated during the territorial period is 
given. After the admission of Mississippi as a state, the following 
academies were given the privilege of raising by lottery the amounts 
stated: 

Hancock College, 1818 $ 4,000 

Hancock College, 1819 20,000 

Pearl River Academy (MonticeUo), 1819 10,000 

Natchez Academy, 1819 20,000 

Columbian Academy, 1820 2,000 

Elizabeth Female Academy, 1820 10,000 

Franklin Academy (Columbus), 1821 S,ooo 

Clinton Academy (Port Gibson), 1826 2,000 

Mississippi Academy (Clinton), 1827 20,000 

Westville Academy, 1827 S,ooo 

Benton Academy, 1829 S,ooo 

Pearl River Academy (Brandon), 1829 5,000 

Brandon Academy, 1833 5,ooo 

II. EXEMPTIONS 

Exemption from taxation is another form of state aid that was 
employed from early territorial days. It was often granted specifically 
in charters, and was conferred upon all incorporated educational insti- 
tutions by the revenue laws after 1822.' 

TABLE XVI 
Territorial Aid to Academies 



Name 


Date of 
Incorporation 


Lottery 
Privilege 


Exempt 
from Tax ? 


Direct 
Grant 


Franklin Society 


1807 
1809 
1811 
1812 
1814 
1815 
1815 
1815 




No 
No 
Yes 
Yes 
No 
No 
No 
No 




Madison Academy 


$2,000 
5,000 
4,000 
1,000 
3,000* 




Washington Academy 

Greene Academy 

Jackson Academy 


$500 
500 


Amite Academy 




Pinckneyville Academy. . . . 




Wilkinson Academy 


1,000 









• Supplementary act, 1816. 



HI. APPROPRIATIONS 



Only once, in 1816, did Mississippi make an appropriation from the 
general fund in the treasury for the benefit of academies. At that 
time the territory donated $500 each to St. Stephens Academy (probably 
identical with Washington Academy) and to Greene Academy.^ 



' Poindexter: Revised Code, p. 285 



^ Digest, 1816, p. 80. 



FEDERAL AND STATE AID TO EDUCATION 125 

IV. INDIRECT TAXES 

For a period of seven years, beginning in 1839, Mississippi assisted 
a large number of academies in the state by appropriating to their 
support "all fines, penalties, forfeitures, and amercements which had 
been assessed by any court in the state" and had not been paid into 
the Literary Fund, and all which might thereafter be assessed.' Thirty 
academies in twenty-two counties were named in the act as beneficiaries 
of these funds in their respective counties, and the boards of police 
were authorized to designate the recipients of the funds of the other 
counties.^ 

While the law providing for the assistance of academies throughout 
the state by means of indirect taxation was effective only seven years, 
there were some academies, both before and after this seven-year period, 
which received assistance from this source. As early as 1827 the 
Fayette Academy was given the proceeds from licenses to keepers of 
billiard tables and from the sales of estrays throughout Jefferson County.^ 
The same legislation was enacted for Clinton (afterwards Port Gibson) 
Academy in Claiborne County.'' Other special acts of the legislature 
assigned to academies in various counties the revenue arising from some 
of the following sources: escheats, sales of runaway slaves, fines, for- 
feitures, license fees for hawkers, peddlers, inn-keepers, keepers of 
private houses of entertainment, ten-pin alleys, ferries, auctioneers, and 
retailers of vmous and spirituous liquors. ^ The custom of devoting 
the proceeds of liquor licenses to the cause of education seems to have 
been begun in Mississippi with the common school law of 1846. One of 
the supplements to that law, passed at the same session of the legisla- 
ture, provided that an exception should be made of the town of Canton 
so far as the license fees from saloons were concerned, and that these 
fees should go to the Canton Female Academy instead of the common 
schools. Similar acts in the years following diverted a part and fre- 
quently all the revenue from liquor licenses in their respective counties 
to the following academies: Lexington Male and Female (1846), Aber- 
deen Female (1848), Polkville (1850), Macon Female Institute and 

• Laws of Mississippi, 1839 (Adjourned Session), pp. 38-40. 

' In four counties the funds did not go to secondary education, but were appropri- 
ated as follows: Adams, to Orphan Asylum; Lowndes, to common schools; Warren, 
to poor house; Yazoo, to Yazoo Library Association. See p. 63 and footnote. 

3 Laws of Mississippi, 1827, pp. 58-59. 

* Ibid., 1829, pp. 46-47. 

s Ibid., iS^S, -pp. 78-82; 1850, p. 493; 1852, p. 436; i860, p. 300. 



126 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Macon Male Academy (1850), Yazoo Female (1850), the incorporated 
institutions of Holmes County (1852), Fayette Female (1852), Franklin, 
in Lowndes County (i860). 

V. SIXTEENTH SECTION AND COMMON SCHOOL FUNDS 

There are a number of acts of the legislature which authorize acade- 
mies to receive sixteenth section funds from the township in which they 
were located, or a share of the county Common School Fund of their 
county. The use of the latter funds by academies was usually limited 
to the pro rata share of the Common School Fund that properly belonged 
to the children of the county who attended the academy.' 

The following academies were beneficiaries of the sixteenth section 
fund. The year in which the use of the fund was granted is indicated 
in each case.^ 

Franklin Academy, 1821. 

Marion Academy (Wilkinson), 1830. 

Brandon Academy, 1836. 

An Academy — supported by two adjacent townships in Wilkinson County, 
1836. 

Plymouth Male and Female Academy, 1839. 

Vicksburg Female Academy, 1840. 

The Greensboro Academies, 1840. 

Grenada Male Academy and Grenada Female Academy, 1841. 

PolkviUe Academy, 1850. 

SUPPORT OF HIGHER EDUCATION 

No regular support of higher education in Mississippi was provided 
until after 1848. Previous to that time a number of concessions were 
made to various institutions in the way of direct or indirect financial 
assistance. The most frequent indirect aid to colleges was exemption 
from taxation, which was given without exception to all higher insti- 
tutions in the state. Some of the earlier institutions were also given 
the privilege of raising funds by lotteries. Jefferson College, for instance, 
was permitted to raise $10,000 in this way, and Mississippi College was 
authorized to raise $20,000.^ For ten years, from 181 1 to 182 1, Jefferson 
College was also given all escheats in Mississippi.'' There are also 

'Laws of Mississippi, 1854, p. 429. 

^Ihid., 1821, pp. 73-75; 1830, p. 51; 1836, p. 392; 1839, p. 357; 1840, p. 131; 
ibid., p. 157; 1841, p. 258; 1850, p. 395. See abstracts of charters in Appendix A. 

^ Digest, 1816, p. 310. 

4 Mayes, "History of Education in Mississippi," United States Bureau of Educa- 
tion, Circular of Information, No. 2. 



FEDERAL AND STATE AID TO EDUCATION 127 

three instances of loans of money from the state treasury to colleges. 
Two of these were made to Jefferson College — $6,000 in 1816 and 
$4,000 in 1820;' the third loan was to Mississippi College — $5,000 in 
1829.^ None of these loans were repaid by the colleges. The claim 
against Mississippi College was cancelled by the legislature m 1854,^ 
and the two against Jefferson College in 1858." Mississippi College 
was also granted the rents from the seminary lands in 1827 for a period 
of five years. 5 

Beginning in 1848 the legislature made regular semiannual appro- 
priations to the support of the state university, in addition to a number 
of special appropriations. The sum of $50,000 was appropriated to the 
trustees of the university in 1846 for building purposes.^ In 1848 a 
standing semiannual appropriation amounting to $6,226.75 per annum 
was made for the support of the institution. This was evidently intended 
as payment of interest upon the portion of the Seminary Fund that had 
been collected and was then in the state treasury. The act provided 
also that 6 per cent should be paid by the state upon all sums thereafter 
paid into the state treasury to the credit of the university.'' In 1850 a 
second semiannual appropriation amounting to $6,000 a year was 
made for the maintenance of a department of "Agricultural and Geologi- 
cal Science."* In 1854 the law department was established, for which 
an annual appropriation of $2,000 was allowed.' This sum was increased 
to $4,000 a year in i860." The rapid growth of the university soon 
made a more adequate plant necessary. To meet this need the legis- 
lature of 1856 made an appropriation of $100,000, to be paid in five 
annual instalments, for buildings, library equipment, and "other press- 
ing wants" of the institution." In i860 the annual instalments of 
$20,000 were ordered continued for two years longer, bringing the 
total appropriation for these purposes to $140,000." 

The total amount appropriated to the university from 1846 to i860 
appears to have been $340,321, in addition to 6 per cent interest on 
funds that came into the treasury to the credit of the institution after 
1848. The purposes for which the various sums were appropriated 

' Digest, 1816, p. 453; Laws of Mississippi, 1820, p. 53. 

' Laws of Mississippi, 1829, pp. 54-55. 

3 Ibid., 1854, p. 470. * Ibid., 1850, p. 127. 

* Ibid., 1858, p. 170. ' Ibid., 1854, p. 160. 

^ Ibid., 1827, pp. 85-86. ^° Ibid., 1859-60, p. 239. 

^ Ibid., 1846, pp. 104-5 " Ibid., 1856, p. 76. 

T Ibid., 1848, pp. 104-5. " Ibid., 1859-60, p. 238. 



128 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

with the total amount of the appropriations may be summarized as 
follows: 

For buildings and equipment, 1846 $ 50,000 

Semiannual appropriation for support, 1848-60 74, 721 

Department of Agriculture and Geology, semiannual appropriation, 

1851-60 60,000 

Department of Law, $2,000 per annum, 1854-60 and $4,000 in i860 16,000 
Buildings, library, and other "pressing wants," annual appropriation 

of $20,000 for five years 100,000 

Above annual appropriation authorized for two additional years, i860 40,000 

Total appropriations $340,721 



APPENDIX A 



ABSTRACT OF CHARTERS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 
AND HIGHER INSTITUTIONS 

Unless otherwise specified, references in the margin are to pages of the 
printed session laws for the session indicated by the date of incorporation. 
References to manuscript laws are indicated by the abbreviations T.A. and 
S.A., for Territorial Archives and State Archives, respectively, and are followed 
by the statement of the series and number in which they may be found in the 
State Department of Archives and History at Jackson. For instance: T.A., 
D, 8 means Territorial Archives, Series D, Number 8. 

I. ACADEiQES AND OTHER SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



ABSTRACTS 

Franklin Society: 

Cato West and twenty-one others incorporated for the 
purpose of maintaining Franklin Academy. May hold 
property, provided annual income therefrom shall not 
exceed $20,000. May make regulations for the election 
of new members to the society. January 8, 1807. 

Madison Academy: 

Thirteen trustees incorporated. May receive donations. 
Self-perpetuating. Shall examine proficiency of students, 
elect president and professors, make regulations for 
academy, and provide equal advantages for all religious 
denominations. May raise $2,000 by lottery. Decem- 
ber 5, 1809. 

Washington Academy: 

Twenty-seven trustees incorporated. May employ teach- 
ers and remove them at pleasure. Shall make regulations 
for government of academy. Self-perpetuating. Exempt 
from tax. May raise $5,000 by lottery. December 17, 
1811. 

Amendment, December 24, 1814: New board of twelve 
trustees incorporated. 

Greene Academy: 

Fifteen trustees incorporated. Located in Madison 
County.^ Trustees may select site, engage president and 



Reference 

Digest (1816), 

52. 



Digest (1816), 

53- 



T.A., D, 8. 



Digest(i8i6), 
54-55- 

Digest (18 1 6), 
56-57- 



' The first Madison County, in Alabama after division of Mississippi Territory. 

129 



130 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

other professors, supersede them at pleasure, make laws 
for the government of the academy and for promoting 
morality among the students. Self-perpetuating. Exempt 
from taxation. May raise $4,000 by lottery. Novem- 
ber 25, 1812. 

Jackson Academy: 

Established in Wilkinson County under the superintend- Digest (1816), 

ence of nine trustees who are made a self-perpetuating 57. 

corporate body. May employ principal professor and 

other teachers and remove them at pleasure. Shall hold 

stated meetings for examining proficiency of students. 

Make regulations for government of academy and the 

promotion of learning, virtue, and morality among the 

students. May raise by lottery $1,000. December 27, 

1814. 

Wilkinson Academy: 

Under the superintendence of nine trustees. Power to Digest (1816), 
receive donations. Self-perpetuating. May engage a 59. 
teacher or teachers. Shall examine the proficiency of 
students, and make regulations for government of the 
institution and for promoting learning, virtue, and moral- 
ity. May raise by lottery $1,000. December 23, 181 5. 

Pinckneyville Academy: 

In Wilkinson County. Board of nine trustees incorpo- Digest (1816), 

rated. May receive donations. Self-perpetuating. May 58-59. 

engage principal and other teachers. Sh^ll hold stated 

and called meetings for examining into the proficiency of 

students, and shall make laws for the government of 

the institution and for promoting learning, virtue, and 

morality among the students. December 23, 181 5. 

Amite Academy: 

Eleven trustees made a corporate body. May select site Digest (1816), 

within three miles of Liberty, Amite County. Self- 57-58. 

perpetuating. May employ teachers and remove them 

at pleasure. Shall hold stated and called meetings for 

examining into the proficiency of students, and make 

regulations for the government of the academy, and for the 

promotion of learning, virtue, and morality among the 

students. December 8, 181 5. 

Amendment authorizing the trustees to raise $3,000 by T.A., D, 10. 

lottery. December 6, 1816. 



APPENDIX A 131 

Reference 

Hancock College: 

Ten trustees incorporated. Self-perpetuating. May re- S.A., I, i. 
ceive donations; select site for school within the corpo- 
rate limits of Shieldsborough, Hancock County; employ 
faculty and displace them at pleasure. Exempt from 
taxation. May raise by lottery $4,000. January 31, 
1818. 

Amendment increasing the limit of sum to be raised to 
$20,000, January 29, 1819. 

Beach Hill Academy: 

Five trustees incorporated. May raise subscriptions and S.A., I, 2. 
receive donations, not to exceed $10,000. Self-perpetuat- 
ing. February 6, 1819. 

Pearl River Academy: 

Five trustees incorporated. May purchase real estate, S.A., I, 2. 
receive donations, devises, and bequests, and raise by 
lottery $10,000, provided all shall be used exclusively for 
erecting and endowing the said academy upon land 
donated for that purpose. Self-perpetuating. May make 
regulations to govern teachers and scholars. February 1 2, 
1819. 

Natchez Academy: 

Fourteen trustees incorporated. May receive and hold S.A., I, 2. 
real and personal property to any amount; make regula- 
tions for "the good government of the institution;" erect 
and repair a house or houses for the school; employ 
professors, tutors, and other officers; fix their salaries; 
and supersede them at pleasure. Shall examine the pro- 
ficiency of students, make rules for promoting morality 
and virtue among them, and shall admit all denomina- 
tions to equal advantages of a liberal education. Self- 
perpetuating. Exempt from taxation. May raise $20,000 
by lottery. February 12, 1819. 

Elizabeth Female Academy: 

Five trustees incorporated. May own real and personal S.A., I, 2. 
property to $100,000. Vacancies in the board may be 
filled by the Methodist Mississippi Annual Conference. 
Trustees may make regulations for government of the 
academy and for promoting piety and virtue among the 
students, but no religious list or opinion shall be required 
of pupils for admission. February 17, 1819. 

Amendment, February i, 1820: Authorized the trustees S.A., I, 3. 
to raise $10,000 by lottery. 



132 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

Wilkinson Female Academy: 

Six trustees and their associates incorporated. May S.A., I, 2. 
receive gifts, grants, bequests of books, charts, maps, 
chattels, lands, tenements, and money for the benefit of 
said institution. May own real property to $10,000 and 
personal to $20,000. February 19, 1819. 

Columbian Academy: 

Shall be established in Marion County. Eight trustees S.A., I, 3. 
incorporated, with power to increase their number to 
twelve. May receive donations, recover by law debts due 
the academy, and elect teacher or teachers. Exempt from 
tax. May raise by lottery $2,000. February 10. 1820. 

Franklin Academy: 

Whereas the town site of Columbus is included in the 73-75. 
sixteenth section of fractional T. 18, R. 18, W., from 
basis meridian of Madison County, Alabama: 
Eight commissioners appointed to lay out not more than 
one acre of section in town lots, to be leased by agents 
appointed by the county courts for ninety-nine years at 
an annual rental. Commissioners incorporated as trustees 
of Franklin Academy. Shall select site, employ teachers, 
and make regulations. May increase their number to 
twelve and fill all vacancies. May raise $5,000 by 
lottery. Shall apply proceeds from lease of lots to edu- 
cational purposes within the township. February 10,1821. 
Axnendment, February 3, 1827: Power of county courts 136-38. 
to lease lots transferred to trustees. Authorized to lease 
additional lots, when the interest of the institution 
requires. 

Amendment, February 10, 1830: Grants authority to lease 31-32. 
additional lots. 

Amendment, December 13, 1830: Repeals amendment of 9-10. 
February 3, 1827. Trustees may lease tracts of ten acres 
for period of ninety-nine years, rent payable annually in 
advance. 

Amendment, December 19, 1831: Board of trustees to 120-22. 
consist of five members, elected annually by the qualified 
electors of the township. 

Amendment, March i, 1833: To re-enact amendment of S.A., I, 18. 
December 19, 183 1, the legality of which was doubted, 
because it was passed without the consent of the corpora- 
tion. This act is passed with the consent of the self- 
perpetuating board. 



APPENDIX A 133 

Reference 
An act to authorize and require the trustees to lease lots 412-13. 
of less than one-fourth an acre. January 28, 1846. 

Sligo Academy: 

Established in Wilkinson County on the tract of land 7-8. 
known as Sligo. Eight trustees incorporated. May 
receive donations. Self-perpetuating. May engage 
teachers. November 20, 1821. 

Centre Academy and Meeting House: 

Eight trustees made a body corporate. May increase 86-88. 
their number to nine. Shall examine qualifications of 
teachets as to capacity and morals, and employ such as 
they think qualified. Shall make rules for academy 
and provide equal privileges for all denominations. Janu- 
ary 20, 1823. 

Flower Hill Academy: 

Five trustees incorporated. Self -perpetuating. May 77-78. 
engage a principal professor and other teachers. Shall 
examine the proficiency of students and make regulations 
for the government of the seminary. February 2, 1825. 

Clinton Academy: 

In the county of Claiborne. Nine trustees incorporated. 63-65. 
Self-perpetuating. Shall select site within one mile of 
Port Gibson. May engage teachers, examine their pro- 
ficiency, and dismiss them at pleasure. Shall examine 
progress of students at stai:ed intervals. Exempt from 
tax. Real property may not exceed $20,000. May raise 
$2,000 by lottery. January 23, 1826. 

Amendment, February 12, 1830: Name changed to Port 91. 
Gibson Academy. 

Amendment, February 5, 1838: New board of trustees 79-82. 
named. Property limit raised to $100,000. License fees 
for keepers of billiard tables and all proceeds from sales 
of runaway slaves and all escheats in the county appropri- 
ated to the academy. 

Amendment, December 3, 1858: Female department, 121-22. 
recently organized, authorized to confer degrees. 

Hamstead Academy: 

Nine trustees incorporated. May receive donations, and 23-25. 
collect all debts and dues by law. Self-perpetuating. 
January 24, 1826. 

Amendment, February 5, 1827: Name changed to Missis- 85-86. 
sippi Academy. Trustees authorized to raise $20,000 by 
lottery. Proprietors of town of Clinton authorized to sell 



134 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

lots by lottery, provided 15 per cent of the proceeds be 
appropriated to the academy. Rents from Seminary Lands 
for five years appropriated to the support of the academy. 
Amendment, December 16, 1830: Name changed to 101-2. 
Mississippi College. Power to confer degrees. 

Westville Academy: 

Seven trustees incorporated. May select site within two 73-76. 
miles of Westville, Simpson County; erect an "academi- 
cal edifice" ; and engage a "preceptor and other professors." 
Shall examine proficiency of students and make rules for 
the academy. Equal privileges for all religious denomi- 
nations. May raise $5,000 by lottery. Exempt from 
tax, provided clear yearly value shall not exceed |i,ooo. 
January 27, 1827. 

Fayette Academy: 

Five trustees incorporated. Located in Jefferson County. 58-59. 
May erect house and appoint professors and necessary 
teachers. Taxes on billiard tables and proceeds of all 
sales of estrays in the county appropriated to the support 
of the academy. Self-perpetuating. February 6, 1827. 

Rutledge Academy: 

Five trustees incorporated. Self-perpetuating. Loca- 66-67. 
tion, within one mile of GaUatin, Copiah County. May 
engage teachers, examine their proficiency, and dismiss 
them for malconduct or incompetency. ShaU examine 
progress of pupils. Real property limit, $10,000. Feb- 
ruary 12, 1828. 

Benton Academy: 

Seven trustees incorporated. Self-perpetuating. May 73-78. 
select site at Benton, in Yazoo County, erect buildings, 
employ teachers and displace them at pleasure. Shall 
examine the proficiency of students and shall admit all 
denominations to equal advantages. May raise by 
lottery $5,000. Exempt from tax, provided annual income 
from property does not exceed $1,000. January 29, 1829. 

Pearl River Academy {Rankin County): 

Nine trustees. Self-perpetuating. Located upon six- 73-78. 
teenth section. May engage teachers and dismiss them at 
pleasure. Shall examine proficiency of students. ShaU 
provide equal privileges for all religious denominations. 
May raise $5,000 by lottery, and control for the use of the 
academy all filnds from the sixteenth section on which it is 
located. January 29, 1829. 



APPENDIX A 13s 

Reference 

Marion Academy {Wilkinson County): 

Five trustees incorporated. Self-perpetuating. May 51-52. 
appoint president and teachers and remove them at 
pleasure. Shall examine the proficiency of students. 
Shall lease annually the sixteenth section upon which 
the academy is located. January 30, 1830. 

Natchez Academy: 

Twelve trustees incorporated. Shall govern the affairs of 155-6. 
the academy, procure competent teachers, fix their salaries, 
ordain the course of study, establish terms, vacations, and 
tuition fees. Self-perpetuating. February 10, 1830. 

Hampden Academy: 

Seven trustees. Self-perpetuating. May engage instruct- 42-43- 
ors and shall examine proficiency of students. Decem- 
ber 16, 1830. Located at Raymond, Hinds County. 
Amendment, February 4, 1836: Name changed to Ray- 395. 
mond Academy. 

Meridian Springs Academy {Hinds County): 

Seven trustees. May make rules for the government of 11 2-13. 
the academy. Self-perpetuating. December 5, 1831. 

Vicksburg Institute: 

The officers of the time being incorporated under the name 49~SO- 
"The Vicksburg Institute of Science and Literature." 
May receive donation; make regulations for the govern- 
ment of the academy. December 19, 183 1. 

Yazoo Academy: 

Seven trustees. May increase their number. Self- S.A., I, 18, 
perpetuating. Exempt from tax, provided net annual 
income from property does not exceed $1,000. Feb- 
ruary 2, 1833. 

Hickory Springs Academy {Holmes County): 

(Incorporated in same act with Yazoo Academy.) Four S.A., I, 18. 

trustees. Same powers as Yazoo Academy. February 2, 

1833. 

Brandon Academy: 

School commissioners of fractional T. i, R. 4, W. and S.A., I, 18. 
their successors made a corporate body for the purpose 
of maintaining Brandon Academy. May receive dona- 
tions and raise $5,000 by lottery. February 2, 1833. 

Pearl River Academy {Madison County): 

Five trustees. Self-perpetuating. May increase their S.A., I, 18. 
number, appoint a president, and make by-laws. Febru- 
ruary 15, 1833. 



136 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

. Reference 

Spring Ridge Academy {Madison County): 

Nine trustees. Make regulations for government of the S.A., I, 19. 

academy and for promoting morality, learning, and virtue 

among the students. Shall hold regular meetings twice a 

year. Self-perpetuating. Shall establish an academy on 

the tract of land near Livingston, which is offered to be 

donated by Archibald McGehee. December 23, 1833. 

Gallatin Female Academy: 

Incorporates a self-perpetuating board of trustees. May S.A., I, ig. 
receive donations, employ teachers, and make regulations 
for the government of the school. February 4, 1833. 

Monticello Academy: 

In Lawrence County. Eight trustees. Self-perpetuating. 385-86, 
May engage teachers and remove them at pleasure. Act 
creating Pearl River Academy in Lawrence County 
repealed. February 4, 1836. 

Canton Female Academy: 

Six trustees. Limit to real and personal estate, $20,000. 396-97. 
Trustees may appoint teachers and make by-laws for 
governing the academy and promoting learning among 
the students. Shall hold semiannual meetings. Self- 
perpetuating. February 5, 1836. 

Supplernentary act, February 4, 1846: All moneys from 535-36. 
hquor licenses and licenses to keepers of billiard tables 
arising in the town of Canton appropriated to the Canton 
Female Academy. 

Madisonville Male and Female academies: 

Nine trustees incorporated as a board for both schools. 380-82. 
Shall make rules for the government of the academies 
and for promoting morality, virtue, and learning among 
the students. Shall hold semiannual meetings. Self- 
perpetuating. February 24, 1836. 

Washington Irving Academy and Franklin Female Academy: 

Fourteen trustees incorporated. May receive donations 393-95. 
and legacies. May make rules for the academy. Located 
in town of Franklin. Trustees may also operate a female 
department under the name, Franklin Female Academy. 
February 25, 1836. 

Carrollton Academy: 

In the county of Carroll. Seven trustees. Property 386-88. 
limit, $25,000. Trustees may select site within one mile 
of Carrollton, erect building, appoint teachers, and make 



APPENDIX A 137 

Reference 
regulations for the government of the academy. Shall 
meet semiannually. P'ebruary 26, 1836. 

Richlands Academy: 

In the county of Carroll. Six trustees. Real estate 377~78. 
limit, $10,000; personality, $5,000. Shall select a site 
within two miles of Shongalo. Self-perpetuating. Shall 
employ teachers, make regulations, and meet twice a year. 
February 26, 1836. 

Judson Institute: 

Fifteen trustees. Shall be located at Society Ridge in 382-84. 
Hinds County. Real property limit, $200,000; personal, 
$50,000. Baptist Education Society of Mississippi shall 
fill all vacancies in the board of trustees and control the 
affairs of the institution. "So soon as said board shall 
deem it expedient, they shall have and enjoy the privileges 
of a college and may confer degrees." February 27, 1836. 
Amendment, February 18, 1840. Names new board and 175. 
changes location to Middleton, Carroll County. 

An Academy: 

Sections 8-10 of an act to amend an act to authorize the 15-20. 
trustees of school lands to lease the sixteenth sections for 
ninety-nine years permits T. i, R. 3, W. and T. 2, R. 2, W. 
to unite the interest from their school funds for the 
support of an academy. The two township boards are 
incorporated as one board for the government of the 
academy. February 27, 1836. 

Paulding Academy: 

In Jasper County. Seven trustees. May receive dona- 384-85. 
tions and legacies, employ teachers, make regulations for 
the government of the school. Shall locate academy 
within one mile of Paulding. February 27, 1836. 

Gallatin Male Academy: 

Nine trustees incorporated. Property limit, $60,000. 389-91. 
Exempt from tax. Self-perpetuating. Same powers and 
privileges given to Gallatin Female Academy and the two 
boards of trustees united into one board as soon as the 
trustees of the female academy accept this amendment. 
February 27, 1836. 

Lane Academy: 

Eight trustees named and incorporated. Property Hmit: S.A., I, 20. 
real, $10,000; personal, $5,000. Self-perpetuating. May 
erect houses, employ teachers, and make regulations for 
the government of the school. January 20, 1837. 



138 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

IT • A 1 / Reference 

Manon Academy {Lauderdale County): 

Nine trustees. Real property limit, $5,000; personal, 118-20. 
$10,000. Site must be within one mile of Marion. Self- 
perpetuating. Trustees employ teachers and make regu- 
lations for government of academy. May 9, 1837. 

Lewisville {Louisville) Academy: 

In Winston County. Ten trustees named and incorpo- 127-28. 

rated. Property limit, $50,000. May make laws for the 

admission of new members to the corporation and for the 

government of the academy. May 9, 1837. 

Amendment, March 3, 1850: Changes name to Louisville 272. 

Female Academy and excludes male students. Makes 

trustees elective by "contributors" to the academy, with 

one vote for each fifty dollars contributed. 

Amendment, February 26, 1852 : Authorizes the sale of the 397-98. 

female academy and the lending of the money at interest 

until the trustees deem it expedient to purchase a lot and 

erect a building for a male academy. 

Hernando Academy: 

In De Soto County. Nine trustees named and incor- 170-71. 
porated. May employ agents, preceptors, and teachers. 
May receive donations. Regular annual meetings. Shall 
locate the academy within one mile of the county court- 
house. The county board of police may appropriate the 
surplus revenue from the sale of lots in the town of 
Jefferson for the erection of the building. May 11, 1837. 
Amendment, February 9, 1839; Changes name to the 223-24. 
Hernando Male and Female Academy and requires that 
there shall be separate buildings for the male and female 
departments. 

Apt concerning the female academy, March 3, 1848: 476. 
License fees from "tippHng houses" in the town of 
Hernando appropriated to the female academy. 
Act of February 28, 1850, authorizes trustees to transfer 209-10. 
the Hernando Female Academy to any society or denomi- 
nation that offers the greatest inducements for the per- 
manent prosperity of the institution. Such society 
authorized to name a board of nine trustees. 

Amendment, January 23, 1852: New board of trustees 483-84. 
appointed and corporate name changed to the Hernando 
Female Institute. 

Amendment, February 19, 1856: Board to meet on its own 424. 
adjournment; elect officers annually. 

Greensboro Male and Female Academy: 

Five trustees named and incorporated. May receive 178-79. 
donations and legacies, make regulations for government 



APPENDIX A 139 

Reference 

of the academy and for filling vacancies in their own body. 
May II, 1837. 

Sharon Female Academy: 

Fifteen trustees named and incorporated as trustees for 223-24. 
both Sharon College for men and the academy. May 
make rules for the institutions, employ teachers and 
dismiss them at pleasure. Self-perpetuating. "So soon 
as said board shall deem it expedient, they shall have and 
enjoy the privileges of a college in the male department, 
and the power of conferring degrees in both departments." 
May 12, 1837. 

Pinckney Academy: 

Seven trustees. May make laws for the admission of new 304-5. 
members to the corporation and for the government of the 
academy. Self-perpetuating. Shall hold regular semi- 
annual meetings. Location: town of Pinckney. May 13, 
1837- 

Mount Carmel Male and Female Academy: 

Twelve trustees. Real property limit, Is, 000; personal, 310-11. 
$3,000. Self-perpetuating. May employ professors and 
teachers, and make rules for the government of the 
academy and for the promotion of learning and morality 
among the students. May 13, 1837. 

Oxford Male and Female academies: 

Seven trustees incorporated for the male academy, and a 75~77- 
separate board of seven for the female academy. Both 
boards shall employ teachers and necessary assistants, pay 
salaries agreed upon, make regulations for the admission 
of new members to the corporation and for the government 
of the academy, and hold regular semiannual meetings. 
February 2, 1838. 

Tuscahoma Academy {Tallahatchie County): 

Nine trustees named and incorporated. Real property 77. 
limit, $10,000; personal, $5,000. May employ professors 
and teachers and make regulations for the government of 
the academy. February 2, 1838. 

Colbert Male and Female Academy: 

Stock company incorporated. Authorized capital, $50,000 202-6. 
in shares of $50. Property limit, $60,000. Stockholders 
elect seven trustees annually, who shall employ teachers, 



140 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

fix tuition rates, and make rules for the academy. Shall 
distribute net profits annually as dividends. February 15, 
1838. 
Pontotoc Female Academy: 

Seven trustees named and incorporated. May make 229-31. 
regulations for the management of the interest and concern 
of the academy. Self -perpetuating. February 15, 1838. 

Cofeeville Male and Female Academy {Yalobusha County): 

Six trustees incorporated with all rights contained in the 195-96. 
charter of CarroUton Academy and subject to like restric- 
tions. Trustees of school lands in T. 24, R. 6, E. shall pay 
over to trustees of the academy the proceeds from the 
lease of the sixteenth section, which shall be applied on the 
erection of the academy building. January 26, 1839. 

Holly Springs Female Academy: 

Board of trustees made self-perpetuating. Make regula- 202-3. 
tions for the government of the institution and employ 
faculty. January 30, 1839. 

Amendment, February 7, 1842: Name changed to Holly 219. 
Springs Female Institute. 

Chulahoma Female Academy: 

Thirteen trustees named as incorporators, with the same 206-7. 
powers as are given in this act to the Chulahoma College 
for males. (These are: to own real and personal estate, 
make rules for the government of the institution, employ 
teachers and dismiss them at pleasure, and confer degrees.) 
January 30, 1839. 

Farmington Academy: 

Seven trustees. Property limit, $150,000. Trustees may 208-9. 
build and equip house near Farmington, Tishomingo 
County, employ teachers, and make regulations for the 
academy. January 30, 1839. 

Wyatt Male and Female academies: 

Seven trustees incorporated. One board for both acade- 213-14. 
mies. May make rules for the government of the schools 
and for promoting morality, virtue, and learning among 
the students. January 30, 1839. 

Wahalak Female Academy: 

Eleven trustees named and incorporated for the academy. 220-22. 
May make by-laws for the government and management 
of the institution. Self-perpetuating. February 9, 1839. 



APPENDIX A 141 

Reference 

Oak Hill Academy: 

Six trustees incorporated with same powers as trustees of 220-22. 
Wahalak by the same act. February 9, 1839. 

Chulahoma College and Commercial Institute: 

Eight trustees. May employ and dismiss teachers and 227-29. 
make regulations for the government of the institution 
and for promoting learning, morality, and virtue among 
the students. Shall hold semiannual meetings. Self- 
perpetuating. February 9, 1839. 

De Kalb Male and Female Academy: 

Stockholders incorporated. Capital stock, $10,000, in 239-42. 
shares of $10. Property limit, $10,000. Stockholders 
elect five trustees at annual meeting, casting one vote for 
each share of stock. Trustees shall provide house or 
houses for the academy, employ teachers, and fix salaries. 
Surplus shall be applied to completing or erecting and 
equipping necessary buildings before any dividend shall 
be declared. February 9, 1839. 

Woodville Classical School: 

Nineteen trustees incorporated. Property limit $50,000. 251-53. 
Presidents, professors, and students exempt from mihtia 
duty, except in case of actual invasion. Self -perpetuating. 
Exempt from tax. February 14, 1839. 

Macon Male and Female Academy: 

Six trustees. May provide buildings, employ teachers, 256-59. 
make regulations for the government of the academy and 
for the promotion of learning, morality, and virtue among 
the students. Shall hold regular semiannual meetings. 
Self-perpetuating. February 14, 1839. 

Mount Pleasant Male and Female Academy: 

Five trustees incorporated in same act with Macon 256-59. 

Academy with same powers and restrictions. February 14, 

1839. 

Shugualak Male and Female Academy: 

Five trustees incorporated and given same powers and 256-59. 

restrictions as trustees of Macon Academy. February 14, 

1839. 

Plymouth Male and Female Academy: 

Five trustees named and incorporated. Real property 357-58. 
limit, $10,000; personal, $5,000. Self-perpetuating. The 
trustees of T. 19, R. 17, E. may at their discretion apply the 
rents from the sixteenth section to the use of the academy 
until a majority of the resident heads of families direct 
otherwise. February 15, 1839. 



142 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

Emery Academy: 

Twelve trustees. May select location, erect house, employ 378-80. 

teachers, make laws for government of the academy and 

for promoting learning, morality, and virtue among the 

students. Self-perpetuating. February 15, 1839. 
Grenada Male and Female Academies: 

One board of trustees for both academies. Self-perpetua- 380-81. 

ting. May make regulations for the government of the 

academy and for the promotion of learning, virtue, and 

morality. February 15, 1839. 

Amendment, February 6, 1841: Named separate boards 258-59. 

for each academy and authorized the use of the township 

common school funds for their support. 

Original act and the amendment repealed on petition of 174-76. 

the trustees of the academies, March 11, 1856. Funds 

transferred to township trustees for use of common schools. 

Almucha Academy and Free Church: 

Stockholders incorporated. Capital stock, $5,000, in 134-37. 
shares of $5 . 00. Stockholders elect five trustees annually. 
Trustees employ teachers, fix rates, and make rules for the 
admission of students. Any surplus that may be accrued 
shall be applied to the completion of buildings and equip- 
ment before any dividend may be declared. This act may 
be repealed or amended without the consent of the 
corporation. January 27, 1840. 

Thickwoods Academy: 

Six trustees. May appoint professors and dismiss them 148-49. 
at pleasure and make regulations for government of the 
academy. Shall hold three regular meetings annually. 
Shall serve one year and until their successors are elected. 
January 27, 1840. 

Greensboro Male and Female Academies: 

Five trustees. Real property limit, $5,000; personal, 157-59. 
$2,000. Self-perpetuating. Shall make regulations for 
the government of the academy, and with the consent of 
the principal, shall fix rates for tuition, which shall be 
posted on the door of the academy and of the county 
court-house. Shall receive the Sixteenth Section Fund of 
T. 19, R. 9, E. to apply on the building. January 29, 1840. 

Gallatin Academy: 

Nine trustees. Property limit; real, $10,000; personal, 66-68. 
$5,000. Self-perpetuating. May employ teachers and 
make regulations for government of the academy. Febru- 
ary 3, 1840. 



APPENDIX A 143 

Reference 

Woodville Female Academy: 

Nine trustees named and incorporated. Property limit, 161. 
$50,000. Exempt from tax. February 3, 1840. 

Constantine Male and Female Academy: 

Francis L. Constantine, four others, and their associates 162-63. 
incorporated for the purposes of education and advance- 
ment of the good morals of males and females. Property 
limit, $10,000. May make regulations, prescribe the 
course of study, attend examinations, and regulate the 
government and instruction of pupils. The corporation 
shall elect a board of five trustees annually. February 6, 
1840. 

Rienzi Academy: 

Five trustees. Property limit, $50,000. Shall be located 171-73. 
within one mile of present site of post office of Rienzi. 
Trustees shall employ suitable teachers and pay salaries 
agreed upon. Shall make by-laws for the admission of 
new members to the corporation. February 15, 1840. 

Vicksburg Female Academy: 

Eighteen incorporators. May make laws for the govern- 131-32. 
ment of the academy and for continuing the succession of 
the corporation. Property limit, $50,000. Rents from 
sixteenth section of the township appropriated to the 
payment of tuition in the academy of such female orphan 
children as the trustees shall select. February 18, 1840. 

Columbia Academy: 

Nine trustees. No limit to property, provided all proceeds 223-24. 

go to the academy. Shall be entitled to all appropriations 

that by the laws of the state such institutions are entitled 

to from fines, forfeitures, or any other source. Trustees 

shall adopt a constitution, in which they shall determine 

the mode of selecting their successors. February 22, 1840. 

Wahalak Male Academy: 

Stockholders incorporated. Capital stock, $10,000. Shall 263-65. 
elect five trustees annually, each stockholder having one 
vote for each share of stock. Property limit, $10,000. 
January 14, 1841. 

Commerce Male and Female A cademy: 

Six trustees incorporated and given all powers granted 281. 
to Tuscahoma Academy, February 2, 1838. January 27, 
1841. 



144 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

Williamsburg Male and Female Academy: 

Seven trustees. Property limit, $20,000. Shall make 248-49. 
by-laws for the admission of new members. Shall hold 
regular meetings four times a year. All fines, penalties, 
forfeiture, and amercements in Covington County appro- 
priated to the academy. February 5, 1841. 

Oakland Male and Female Academy: 

Eleven trustees incorporated with all rights, privileges, 254. 
powers and immunities granted to CarroUton Academy, 
February 26, 1836, and subject to like restrictions. Feb- 
ruary 5, 1841. 

Charter repealed and academy re-incorporated, February 162-64. 
22, 1842. Stock company. Authorized capital, $10,000 
in shares of $10. Stockholders elect a board of eleven 
trustees annually. 

Marion Male and Female Academy: 

Stock company. Capital stock, $10,000 in shares of $10. 166-68. 
Stockholders make by-laws and elect a board of seven 
trustees annually. Shall receive moneys that may have 
or may accrue in Lauderdale County under an act for the 
benefit of education, approved February 14, 1839. Febru- 
ary 23, 1842. 

Aberdeen Male Academy: 

Seven trustees incorporated, who shall serve temporarily 89-91. 
until their successors shall be elected by the stockholders. 
Stockholders shall elect a board of trustees annually. 
July 25, 1843. 

Raleigh Academy: 

Six trustees. Property limit, $10,000. Self-perpetuating. 94-95. 

All fines, forfeitures, and amercements arising in Smith 

County appropriated to the academy. July 25, 1843. 
Friendship Male A cademy {Panola County) : 

Six trustees incorporated. Property limit, $10,000. May 253-54. 

make regulations for admission of new members to the 

corporation. Charter may be amended or repealed at the 

will of the legislature. January 13, 1844. 

Houston Male and Female Academy: 

Seven trustees. May make regulations for the admission 261-62. 
of new members to the corporation, for the government 
of the academy, and for the promotion of morality, virtue, 
and learning among the students. The legislature may 
alter, amend, or repeal this act at will. January 24, 1844. 



APPENDIX A I4S 

Reference 

Decatur Male and Female Academy: 

Stock company. Capital $10,000 in shares of $10. 254-56. 

Property limit, $10,000. Stockholders shall elect a board 

of nine members annually. The academy shall receive 

all moneys that have accrued or may accrue under the act 

for the benefit of education, approved February 14, 1839. 

This charter may be amended or repealed at the will of 

the legislature. January 26, 1844. 

Lexington Male and Female Academy: 

Five incorporators. Property limit, $20,000. Members 266-67. 
of the corporation may make rules for the admission of 
new members. The corporation shall elect annually a 
board of five trustees. This act may be altered, amended, 
or repealed at the will of the legislature. January 30, 1844. 

Black Hawk Male and Female academies: 

Five trustees named for the male academy. Demetrius 430-31. 
Bland, H. S. Farmer, and their associates made trustees of 
• the female academy. The two boards shall constitute a 
joint corporation, with the right to own property to 
$10,000. They shall elect teachers, prescribe studies, 
attend examinations, and regulate the instruction of the 
students. The trustees named in the act shall serve until 
January i, 1847. Citizens of the town shall elect boards 
of trustees annually. February 5, 1846. 

Aberdeen Female Academy: 

Nine trustees incorporated. Self-perpetuating. May 389-91. 
select site, erect building, employ teachers, pay salaries, 
dismiss teachers at pleasure. Shall make regulations for 
the government of the academy and for the promotion of 
learning, morality, and virtue among the students. 
Exempt from state, county, and municipal tax. Feb- 
ruary II, 1846. 

New charter, February 5, 1848, incorporates the academy 483-84. 
as a stock company. Subscribers shall elect a board of 
nine trustees, arranging terms so that one-third go out 
each year. School lot and improvements exempt from 
tax. Charter of February 11, 1846, repealed. 

Pontotoc Male Academy: 

Seven trustees. May own property and mak e regulations 370-71. 
for the government of the academy. Self-perpetuating. 
February 11, 1846. 



146 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

Zion Seminary: 

Six trustees. May own real and personal estate, provided 367-68. 
annual income therefrom does not exceed $ 1 0,000. Dona- 
tions shall be put at interest on good security and the 
interest alone be used for the support of the academy. 
This act may be repealed at the will of the legislature. 
February 11, 1846. 

St. Thomas^ Hall: 

The rector, senior and junior warden, and the two oldest 330-31. 
vestrymen of Christ's Church at Holly Springs made 
ex officio members of a corporate body with Henry 
Anderson and B. W. Williams. The ex officio members 
may fill vacancies caused by the death or resignation of 
Anderson, Williams, or their successors. May own 
property to $50,000, provided it be employed for educa- 
tional purposes. February 20, 1846. 

Jackson Male Academy and the Jackson Female Academy: 

State's right and interest in College Square, College Green, 359-60. 
and certain other lots in the city of Jackson granted to a 
board of trustees, which is incorporated and required to 
erect two substantial brick buildings and designate them 
as the Jackson Male Academy and the Jackson Female 
Academy. Said houses shall become free schools, when- 
ever the citizens and corporate authorities desire and shall 
provide means of sustenance. The governor of the state 
shall fill all vacancies in the board. March 5, 1846. 

Macon Female Institute: 

Fifteen trustees incorporated for " Macon Female Institute 467-69. 
of the Alabama Annual Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, in Noxubee County." May 
establish such chairs as they deem advisable and elect 
professors, who shall conduct and govern the institution. 
May confer degrees, and may receive funds in trust for a 
permanent endowment. Property limit, $100,000. Janu- 
ary 17, 1848. 

Canton Male Academy: 

Six trustees. Property limit, $10,000. Location, within 

one mile of Canton. Trustees may appoint and remove 

teachers at pleasure, and shall make regulations for 

the government of the academy. Self -perpetuating, 469-72. 

provided no one shall be eligible for membership of the 

board who lives more than four miles from Canton and is 

not a freeholder. February 4, 1848. 



APPENDIX A 147 

Reference 

Raymond Female Institute: 

The female department of Raymond Academy incorpo- 472-73. 
rated under the above name. Seven trustees. Self- 
perpetuating. Shall hold the house and lot in Raymond 
known as the female academy, and may acquire other 
property. When the curriculum of the institute has been 
so enlarged as "to embrace a complete course in female 
education," the institution may issue diplomas. Febru- 
ary 28, 1846. 

Columbus Female Institute: 

Twelve incorporators. Stock company with authorized 477-81. 
capital of $50,000. Stockholders elect trustees, who shall 
elect a principal. Principal shall elect his own assistants, 
but there must be one teacher in the faculty for each 
twenty-five pupils. Trustees make regulations for govern- 
ment of the institute. Exempt from tax, and the square 
in which the institute is situated shall be released from the 
annual lease so long as it is used for educational purposes.' 
March 4, 1848. 

Enterprise Academy: 

Seven trustees. Perpetual succession. May make regu- 482. 
lations for the government of the academy. March 4, 
1848. 

Pleasant Hill Male and Female Academy: 

Five trustees. Perpetual succession. May make regula- 482-83. 
tions for the government of the academy. Property limit, 
$15,000. March 4, 1848. 

Yazoo Classical Hall: 

Fifteen visitors incorporated. Property limit, $100,000. 461-62. 
May make laws for the election of officers, admission of 
new members, and the government of the institution. 
May establish a collegiate institution and issue certificates 
or confer degrees. February i, 1850. 

Pearl River Female Academy: 

Eight trustees with the same rights given to Pearl River 314. 
Academy by act of February 15, 1833. Location, in 
T. 7, R. 2, E. in Madison County. February 18, 1850. 

Polkville Male and Female Academy: 

Trustees named and incorporated. Property limit, 395-96. 
$10,000. Sixteenth section funds of the township and the 

' The school was located upon the sixteenth section of the township. 



148 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 



Reference 



452-53- 



403-4- 



revenue from liquor licenses arising within the town of 
Polkville appropriated to the academy. Self-perpetuating. 
Board of trustees shall elect a principal, who shall choose 
his own assistants. There shall be one teacher to each 
twenty-five pupils. February 19, 1850. 

Salem High School: 

Incorporates the Salem High School Association. Prop- 
erty limit, $30,000. May make rules for the admission 
of new members. Subscribers to the association not hable 
beyond the time specified when making the subscription. 
March 4, 1850. 

Almuch Academy: 

Incorporates the school "on the land of D. N. Cormack, 
in the neighborhood of Old Town (Almucha)." Five 
trustees. Self-perpetuating. May employ teachers and 
remove them at pleasure. Shall examine students, make 
rules, and see that all denominations receive like treat- 
ment. Property limit, $5,000. Sale of distilled or 
spirituous liquors within a half mile of the academy 
prohibited. March 6, 1850. 

Kemper College: 

Governor, president of Senate, speaker of House, and 
judges of High Court of Errors and Appeals ex officio 
members of board of trustees. C. P. Smith and Samuel 
Batchelder, proprietors, may appoint additional trustees 
and fill vacancies. May confer degrees. March 7, 1850. 

Euclid Male and Female Academy: 

Trustees named and made a corporate body. May make 
by-laws and regulations. Property limit, $30,000. Self- 
perpetuating board. November 30, 1850. 

Choctaw Collegiate Institute: 

Incorporates trustees. May employ teachers and remove 
them at pleasure. May confer degrees. Choctaw Baptist 
Association shall fill all vacancies in board. Township 
school trustees may transfer i . 05 acres of school land to 
the Institute. January 27, 1852. 

Newton Institute: 

At Newton Place in Wilkinson County. For the instruc- 458-59. 
tion of young ladies in literature, science, and arts. May 
confer degrees. Trustees may elect new members of their 
body. Exempt from tax. February 2, 1852. 



443-45- 



Called 
Session, 
34, 35- 

221; 431. 



APPENDIX A 149 

Reference 

Enon High School: 

Incorporates the Enon High School Association. Prop- 411-13. 
erty limit, $50,000. May admit new members. Sub- 
scribers liable only for the time specified when subscription 
is made. Sale of vinous and spirituous liquors prohibited 
within one mile of the school. February 5, 1852. 

Yalobusha Baptist Institute: 

Temporary board named to serve until meeting of the 407-8. 
Yalobusha Baptist Association. Property limit, $50,000, 
in addition to an endowment limited at $100,000, which the 
trustees are authorized to raise by the sale of scholarships, 
by donation, or otherwise. Association shall elect a board 
of trustees annually. Exempt from tax. February 5, 1852. 

Cold Water Baptist Female Seminary: 

Located at Chulahoma, Marshall County. Trustees self- 404. 
perpetuating, but in filling vacancies must have approval 
of the Cold Water Baptist Association. Property limit, 
$50,000. May confer degrees and diplomas. February 20, 
1852. 

Collegiate High School of the I.O.O.F.: 

Established by Covenant Lodge No. 20, and McKindree 375-76. 
Lodge No. 32, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
in the city of Columbus. Trustees incorporated. Prop- 
erty limit, $50,000. February 25, 1852. 

Maple Spring Academy: 

In Tippah County. Trustees named and incorporated. 287-88. 
Property limit, $5,000. February 28, 1852. 

Masonic and Odd Fellows High School: 

Trustees named for one year. Successors shall be elected 290-92. 
annually by Snowsville Lodge, No. 119. May grant 
diplomas and confer degrees. February 28, 1852. 

Bascom Female Seminary: 

Names and incorporates nine trustees. Self-perpetuating. 292-93. 
Exempt from taxation. March 3, 1852. 

Pleasant Ridge Male and Female Academy: 

Located in Tippah County. March 12, 1852. 315-16. 

Middleton Female Seminary: 

Stock company incorporated. Limited to thirty years. 326-27. 
Property limit, $100,000. Stockholders elect annually a 
board of seven trustees, four of whom must be stock- 
holders. May grant diplomas and degrees. Stockholders 
manage and control the financial affairs of the seminary. 
March 15, 1852. 



I50 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

Greenwood Female Institute: 

In the county of Jasper. Property limit, $15,000. March 331-32. 

15, 1852. 

Southern Scientific Institute: 

In Claiborne County. E. N. Elliot, proprietor, incorpo- 343-44. 
rator. Power to appoint trustees, provided the governor 
and the judges of the High Court of Errors and Appeals 
shall be ex officio members. E. N. Elliot and other 
professors shall constitute the faculty and shall have 
power to confer degrees, and make rules for the discipline 
and management of the institute. March 16, 1852. 
Amendment, February 28, 1854: Becomes Planters' 
College. 

Simpson Male and Female Seminary: 

Incorporates trustees and confers upon them the power 345. 
to govern the institution. Property Umit, $5,000. March 

16, 1852. 

Canton Female Institute: 

Names and incorporates trustees. Self-perpetuating. 90-91. 
Property limit, |6o,ooo. May issue certificates of scholar- 
ship or confer degrees. October 19, 1852. 

Crawfordsville Male and Female institutes: 

In Lowndes County. One board incorporated for both 153-54. 
schools. Property limit, $25,000. May confer diplomas. 
Stockholders meet annually. October 21, 1852. 

Presbyterian Female Collegiate Institute: 

Nine trustees, one-third of whom go out each year. 139-40. 
Their successors shall be appointed by the presbytery of 
Chickasaw. Property Hmit, $40,000. October 14, 1852, 

Monroe Female Institute: 

Trustees named and incorporated. Self-perpetuating. 485-86. 
Exempt from tax. Confer degrees. January 26, 1854. 

Port Gibson Collegiate Academy: 

In Claiborne County. Self -perpetuating board of trustees. 418-19. 
Property limit, $50,000. May grant diplomas. February 
I, 1854. 

Good Hope Academy: 

In Leake County. Trustees to be elected annually by the 394. 
heads of families of T. 9, R. 6 and T. 9, R. 7. Sale of 
vinous and spirituous Uquors prohibited within one mile of 
the academy. February 2, 1852. 



APPENDIX A 



151 



Friendship Academy (Panola County): 

Names and incorporates trustees. Self-perpetuating. 
May appoint president of the academy and make laws 
for the government of the institution. February 4, 1854. 

Hill City Collegiate Institute: 

The institute established by R. T. W. Daniel in Vicksburg 
is incorporated, and said R. T. W. Daniel and associates 
and their heirs and assigns are declared a body politic and 
corporate. Property limit, $20,000. February 18, 1854. 

Red Banks Female Seminary: 

Trustees self-perpetuating. May grant diplomas on com- 
mencement day, "which shall be on the last Friday in 
June of each year, as in other seminaries, institutions, or 
colleges in this state." February 25, 1854. 

Central Female Institute: 

Trustees named and incorporated. May make rules for 
the election of new members of board. Property limit, 
$20,000. February 27, 1854. 

Byhalia Female Institute: 

Trustees incorporated and made self-perpetuating. Prop- 
erty limit, $20,000. February 27, 1854. 

Octograde Seminary: 

Trustees named and incorporated. May make rules for 
continuing their succession. Property limit, $5,000. 
March i, 1854. 

Westminster Academy: 

In county of Tippah. Property limit, $10,000. Seven 
trustees, elected annually by the patrons. Shall receive 
pro rata share of common school fund of Tippah County. 
March i, 1854. 

Union Seminary: 

Incorporates stockholders. Property limit, $20,000. Privi- 
lege of divine worship accorded to each religious denomi- 
nation that subscribes for $300 worth of stock. Stock- 
holders shall elect seven directors, who shall have power 
of trustees of the seminary. Board of police may subscribe 
for stock out of any school fund under its lawful control. 
March 2, 1854. 

Cofeeville Female Institute: 

Incorporates trustees. Property limit, real, $3,000; per- 
sonal, $1,000. Exempt from taxation. Self-perpetuating. 
March 2, 1854. 



Reference 



310. 



207. 



253-54. 



238-39. 



251-52. 



337-38. 



429-30. 



428-29. 



206-7. 



152 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

Okolona Female Institute: 

Incorporates trustees. Self-perpetuating. Property limit, 388-89. 

$30,000. January 23, 1856. 
Eastport Female Institute: 

Located in Tishomingo County. May confer degrees and 210-1 1. 

diplomas. February 20, 1856. 
Calhoun Institute: 

Incorporated and given power to confer degrees and 169. 

diplomas. February 23, 1856. 
Byhalia Male Academy: 

In town of Byhalia, Marshall County. Property limit, 219-20. 

$S,ooo. May confer degrees. Shall appoint semian- 
nually a board of visitors. Exempt from tax. Sale of 

vinous and spirituous liquors prohibited within five 

miles. February 23, 1856. 
Okolona Male Academy: 

Names and incorporates a board of trustees, who are made 402. 

self-perpetuating. February 29, 1856. 

Amite Female Seminary: 

Property limit, $50,000 May confer degrees. Board of 317-18. 

visitors shall be appointed annually by the Mississippi 

Baptist Association. March 4, 1856. 
Canaan Male and Female Academy: 

In Tippah County. Names and incorporates trustees. 403. 

Self-perpetuating. Property limit, $10,000. March 8, 

1856. 
Oak Bowery Academy: 

Incorporates a board of trustees. Property limit, $15,000. 171. 

March 11, 1856. 
Fayette Female Academy: 

Names temporary board ^f trustees. Property limit, 88-90. 

$250,000. Board of twelve trustees to be elected by the 

Mississippi Presbytery, so that terms of one-third shall 

expire each year. Presbytery shall have supervisory and 

visitorial powers. Proceeds of estray sales and fines for 

violation of license laws in Jefferson County appropriated 

to the academy. November 19, 1857. 
Spring Ridge Female Seminary: 

(Incorporated by the governor.)' Eight trustees. Self- Rec. of 

perpetuating. May confer degrees. Property limit, Inc., 32. 

$50,000. June 7, 1858. 

' See p. 64 and footnote. 



APPENDIX A 153 

Reference 

Central Academy: 

(Incorporated by the governor.) In Madison County. Rec. of 
Stock company. May have separate departments for Inc., 50. 
sexes. Capital stock, $20,000 in shares of $100. Janu- 
ary I, 1859. 

Hillshoro Male and Female Academy: 

(Incorporated by the governor.) In the county of Scott. Rec. of 

Fifteen trustees. Make regulations for the academy. Inc., 61. 

Self-perpetuating. May elect teachers and displace them 

at pleasure. February 26, 1859. 
luka Female Institute: 

(Incorporated by governor.) Five trustees named and Rec. of 

incorporated. Make regulations for the academy. May Inc., 67. 

confer degrees. May 11, 1859. 
Westville Seminary: 

(Incorporated by the governor.) Nineteen incorporators. Rec. of 

Stock company. Limited to five years. May make Inc., 79. 

regulations for the academy, fix rates of tuition, and 

enforce collection of the same. August 9, 1859. 
Rose Hill Male and Female Academy: 

Five trustees named and given general corporate powers. Rec. of 

May make regulations for the government of the academy. Inc., 91. 

December 14, 1859. 
Vernal Male and Female Academy: 

In Greene County. Property limit, $20,000. Sale of 197-98. 

Uquor prohibited within ten miles of the academy or ten 

miles of Salem High School. February 3, i860. 
Wilson Hall: 

In Marshall County. Trustees named and given per- 264-65. 

petual succession. Property Umit, $50,000. May confer 

degrees. February 10, i860. 
Aberdeen Masonic Male High School: 

Property limit, fifty acres of land with the improvements 403-4. 

thereon and personal estate to $20,000. Trustees shall be 

elected by Aberdeen Lodge No. 32 and Euphemia Royal 

Arch Chapter No. 13. February 10, i860. 
Amite County Female Academy: 

Located in town of Liberty. May own real and personal 409-10. 

property. May confer degrees. February 10, i860. 
Willard Male ajul Female academies: 

Located at Flewellen's Cross Roads in De Soto County. 417-18. 

Self-perpetuating board of trustees. Exempt from 



154 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 
taxation. Sale of vinous and spirituous liquors prohibited 
within two and one-half miles. President and professors 
ex officio members of the board, except in matters relating 
to them personally. February lo, i860. 

Masonic Female Seminary: 

In Marshall County. Trustees given "usual privileges 438. 
granted to such institutions." May confer degrees. 
February 10, i860. 

Brandon State Military Institute: 

Governor of the state and his successors made a member 355-56. 

of the board of trustees. Self-perpetuating board, which 

may increase its numbers to twenty. Governor authorized 

to lend firearms to trustees, provided they shall give bond 

for the return of same in good condition. February 11, 

i860. 

Bethany Male and Female Institute: 

(Incorporated by the governor.) Nine trustees, elders of Rec. of 
the Bethany Church. Louisiana Presbytery shall pre- Inc., 117. 
scribe terms of admittance and appoint successors to the 
trustees. April 7, i860. 

Hazlehurst Male and Female Institute: 

(Incorporated by the governor.) All donors to the institute Rec. of 
made members of the corporation. Corporation shall Inc., 122. 
elect a board of seven trustees who shall manage institu- 
tion, make rules, and employ teachers. June 6, i860. 

Richland Male and Female Academy: 

(Incorporated by the governor.) Ten temporary trustees Rec. of 
named. Stock company. Capital, $50,000. Stock- Inc., 132-33- 
holders elect a board of trustees annually. Trustees 
control and supervise the academy. August 22, i860. 

II. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES 
ABSTRACTS 

Jefferson College: 

Named in honor of "Thomas Jefferson, President of the Digest (1816), 
United States and President of the American Philosophical 310. 
Society." Thirty-four trustees named and made self- 
perpetuating body. Trustees authorized to select site, 
contract for buildings, employ president and faculty, 
examine proficiency of students, confer degrees of bachelor 
of arts and master of arts. Students of all denominations 



APPENDIX A 155 

. Reference 

must be admitted to equal advantages and must receive 
"a like fair and generous treatment." Exempt from 
taxation. Students and faculty exempt from military 
duty, except in case of invasion. Trustees authorized 
to raise $10,000 by lottery and receive donations. May 3, 
1802. 

Amendment reducing number of trustees to twenty-five, 51-52. 
making governor and lieutenant-governor ex officio mem- 
bers, with governor as president, and providing that all 
vacancies should be filled by the general assembly. 
January 30, 1826. 

Amendment reducing number of trustees to ten, of whom 87-89. 
the governor should be one and also be president of the 
board. Other members appointed by the governor with 
the advice and consent of the senate. July 26, 1843. 
Amendment authorizing the trustees to establish a branch 361-62. 
of the collegiate and scientific departments at Natchez, to 
which they may attach departments of law and medicine. 
March i, 1854. 

Amendment making president and faculty ex officio 389. 
members of the board of trustees and authorizing said 
board to confer degrees of bachelor of arts, bachelor of 
sciences, and honorary degrees conferable by similar 
literary institutions. February 18, 1854. 

Oakland College: 

Dr. Rush Nutt, David Hunt, and ten others incorporated 47-49. 
as "The Board of Trustees of the Institution of Learning 
under the care of the Mississippi Presbytery." Given 
power to change corporate name, perpetual succession. 
Actual annual income limited to $10,000 from real and 
personal property. May confer degrees and diplomas. 
December 3, 1830. 

Mississippi College: 

(Originally incorporated as Hampstead Academy in 1826. 101-2. 

See abstract of original charter under hea'd of "Academies 

and Other Secondary Schools.") Amendment changed 

name to Mississippi College and authorized trustees to 

confer degrees and make by-laws for the government of the 

institution. December 16, 1830. 

Amendment gave to legislature the power of filling S.A., I, 19. 

vacancies in board of trustees. December 25, 1833. 

Sharon College: 

B. W. M. Menter and fourteen others incorporated as 223-24. 
trustees of both Sharon College (for males) and Sharon 
Female Academy. Self-perpetuating. May employ 



156 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

teachers and supersede them at pleasure, and may confer 
degrees. May 12, 1857. 

Chulahoma College: 

Thomas Box and ten others incorporated as trustees of 206-7. 
"the male academy" with authority to convert it into a 
college as soon as they "shall deem it expedient." May 
hold property without limit, employ teachers and dismiss 
them at pleasure, and may confer degrees. January 30, 
1839. 

University at Holly Springs: 

F. W. Huling and fifteen others incorporated as trustees. 245-46. 

No limit on real and personal property, exempt from tax. 

Shall adopt a constitution, which shall provide regulations 

for filling vacancies in board of trustees. May confer 

literary, scientific, and honorary degrees. February 9, 

1839. 

Grenada College: 

J. C. Baker and twelve others appointed trustees, with 373-75. 
power to select site in or near Grenada, contract for 
buildings, employ president and other professors and 
supersede them at pleasure, examine proficiency of 
students, confer degrees of bachelor of arts and master of 
arts, fiU vacancies in their own body, and receive dona- 
tions, bequests, and legacies. Exempt from tax. Febru- 
ary 15, 1839. 

Mississippi Female College: 

Located at Columbus. Five trustees named, who with 73-75. 
the stockholders of the college are made a corporate body 
for the period of twenty years. Real and personal prop- 
erty limited to $200,000. Trustees named in charter serve 
one year; successors to be elected by stockholders 
biennially. Act may be amended or repealed at any time 
without the consent of the college. February 5, 1840. 

'North Mississippi College: 

Alexander Shaw and eight others named as trustees. No 164-66. 
limit on property, provided proceeds are employed for edu- 
cational purposes. May confer literary and honorary 
degrees. Trustees shall adopt a constitution, which may 
be altered only by the consent of three-fourths of the body. 

February 6, 1840. 



APPENDIX A 157 

Reference 

Centenary College: 

John Lane and twenty-four others named as trustees. 67-69. 
Vacancies shall be filled by rule to be prescribed at the first 
meeting of the board of trustees. May establish a number 
of schools, including law and medicine. President of the 
college shall be ex officio member of the board of trustees. 
Property limit, $500,000. Legislature may repeal charter 
without the consent of the college. July 18, 1843. 

University of Mississippi: 

J. Alexander Ventress, John A. Quitman, Wm. L. Sharkey, 227-28. 

A. M. Clayton, Wm. Y. Gholson, Jacob Thompson, Pryor 

Lea, Edward C. Wilkinson, James M. Howry, John J. 

McCaughn, Rev. Francis Hawkes, J. N. Waddell, and 

A. H. Pegues named as trustees, and given all general 

powers "conferred upon similar corporations in the state." 

Given full control over Seminary Fund, and authorized to 

contract for "the erection of the University building." 

Board of trustees made self-perpetuating. Charter may 

be repealed at the will of the Legislature. February 24, 

1844. 

Amendment. Part of charter giving trustees control of 248-49. 

Seminary Fund repealed and the management of the fund 

given to the State Commissioner. January 26, 1846. 

Jackson College: 

Wilson Hemingway, ten others, with the faculty of the 419-20. 
college as ex officio members, and the governor of the 
state ex officio president of the board incorporated as 
trustees. May confer degrees. Shall not be under 
control of any religious sect. Charter may be repealed 
at will of legislature. January 24, 1846. 

Sharon Female College: 

James P. Thomas and twelve others named trustees. 449-52- 
Property limit, $30,000. May employ teachers, make 
regulations, and fill vacancies in their own body, subject 
to approval of the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South. February 23, 1846. 

Eureka Masonic College: 

Located at Richland, Holmes County. Lemuel Doty and 484-76. 
nine others made trustees. May hold real and personal 
property without limit for educational purposes only. 
May confer literary and honorary degrees. Vacancies 
filled by Eureka Lodge No. 61, and Lexington Lodge 
No. 24. All trustees must have attained the third degree 



158 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

of Masonry. Whenever the Grand Lodge of Mississippi 
shall see fit it may, with the consent of the two local lodges, 
take the college under its patronage, and shall have the 
power to determine thenceforth the method of selecting 
trustees. February 7, 1848. 

Aberdeen Female College: 

(Incorporated originally as Aberdeen Female Academy. 279. 
See abstracts of charters of academies in Part I of this 
appendix.) Act changes name of academy to Aberdeen 
Female College and authorizes the college to grant 
diplomas and confer degrees. February 27, 1850. 

Eudocia Female College: 

James A. Godfrey and certain others created a corporate 361-63. 
body as trustees of Eudocia Female College, under the 
care of a company of stockholders. May appoint pro- 
fessors, pay salaries, make regulations, fill vacancies in 
their own body, confer degrees and give diplomas, appoint 
a board of visitors to inspect the institution. May hold 
property, provided annual income therefrom shall not 
exceed $5,000. Exempt from taxes. March 3, 1850. 

Wilmarth College: 

Converts the female academy in the city of Natchez under 437-38. 
the management of Rev. Samuel W. Speer, D.D., into 
Wilmarth College, names trustees, authorizes them to 
hold property to the amount of $100,000, to confer degrees, 
to elect president and faculty and their own successors. 
January 27, 1852. 

Mississippi Female College: 

Trustees named and made self-perpetuating. Property 411-13, 
limit, $50,000. May issue certificates of scholarship or 
confer degrees in arts and sciences. February 11, 1852. 

Kosciusko Masonic Female College: 

Names board of nine trustees. May own property with- 236-38. 
out limit, provided income is employed for educational 
purposes. May confer literary and honorary degrees. 
President of the college and trustees must be third degree 
Masons, and trustees must also be members of Trinity 
Lodge No. 88. March 3, 1852. 

Madison College: 

Located at Sharon, Madison County. Names trustees 272-75. 
and gives power to hold property not to exceed $50,000, to 
appoint the faculty, and to confer degrees. Members of 



J 



APPENDIX A 159 

Reference 

the faculty are made ex officio members of the board of 
trustees. (A preamble to this charter indicates that the 
college was solely for males.) March 4, 1852. 

Mary Washington Female College: 

Names thirty-nine persons as "Trustees and representa- 149-53 
tives of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Aberdeen, and Columbus 
Baptist associations." Property limit, $200,000. Suc- 
cessors to be elected by the four associations named, each 
association electing ten trustees for terms of four years. 
Faculty may grant diplomas and confer degrees. 
Trustees shall elect faculty, and shall have power to 
admit into said college such students as they may think 
proper. Exempt from tax. Any other Baptist Associa- 
tion may be united with the chartered four in support of 
the college on equal terms. March 8, 1852. 

College of St. Andrews: 

Located in Jackson, Hinds County. Names board of 26-27. 
trustees of seven members. Self-perpetuating. No limit 
on property rights. May confer degrees. October 16, 
1852. 

Central Mississippi Female College: 

Located in town of Lexington, Holmes County. Property 289-gi. 
limit, $100,000. Trustees may elect a board of visitors, 
president, and faculty. In addition to property to the 
amount of $100,000, the college may hold as much as 
$200,000 for endowment purposes, which may be raised 
by sale of scholarships, donations, or otherwise. Tempo- 
rary trustees are named to serve until the next meeting of 
the Yazoo Baptist Association, which shall elect at its 
annual meetings. Exempt from taxation. February 25, 
1854. 

Planters^ College: 

(Originally chartered as Southern Scientific Institute, 257-58. 
which may be found under Part I of this appendix.) 
Amendment changes name to Planters' College, makes 
the president, faculty, governor of the state, the chancellor, 
and vice chancellor ex officio members of the board of 
trustees, and authorizes the board to confer degrees. 
February 28, 1854. 

Newton College: 

Located at NewLonia, Wilkinson County. May hold 457-58. 
property without limit, and confer degrees. Exempt from 
taxation. March i, 1854. 



l6o EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

Union Female College: 

Under the control of the Hernando Synod of Cumberland 371. 
Presbyterian Church, and located at Oxford, Mississippi. 
Given "usual corporate powers, particularly those granted 
to Oxford Female Academy " (February 2, 1838). Number 
of trustees may be increased to include a number from 
each of the West Tennessee and the Mississippi synods 
equal to the number named in the charter. March 2, 
1854. 

State Female College of Mississippi: 

Trustees named and made self-perpetuating. Given full 383-84. 
control over funds hereafter appropriated by the state for 
the endowment of the college, and authorized to let con- 
tract for buildings. February 20, 1856. 

Mississippi Masonic Female College: 

Names trustees and locates the college in Claiborne 355-56. 
County. Property limit, $50,000. Board of trustees is 
made self-perpetuating and authorized to grant diplomas 
and confer degrees. Retailing of spirituous and vinous 
liquors prohibited within two miles of the institution. 
March i, 1856. 

Southern Female College: 

Amendment to charter of Mississippi Masonic Female 141-42. 
College, changing name to Southern Female CoUege. 
December 2, 1858. 

Semple Broaddus College: 

Incorporated as "Semple Broaddus CoUege or University Rec. of Inc. 

of DeSoto County." Located at Center Hill, DeSoto 36-37. 

County. Trustees named and located as follows: 13 

from Marshall County, 19 from DeSoto, 5 from Panola, 

2 from Lafayette, 2 from Noxubee, i from Tippah, i from 

Tishomingo, i from Pontotoc, i from Monroe, i from 

Coahoma, i from Lowndes, i from Hinds, 12 from the 

state of Tennessee, 2 from Arkansas. Property rights 

without limitation. Board is made self-perpetuating, and 

given power to confer degrees. November 11, 1858. 

Whitworth College: 

E. L. Bowen and six others named as trustees. Board Rec. of Inc., 
shaU superintend, visit, and manage the college, make 98. 
rules and regulations, grant diplomas, confer degrees. 
Property limit, $50,000. Self -perpetuating. February i, 
i860. 



APPENDIX A i6l 

Reference 

Corona Female College: 

Located at Corinth. Incorporates Rev. L. B. Gaston Rec. of Inc., 
and his associates as president and board of instructors, no. 
May hold property without limitation, make regulations, 
grant diplomas, confer degrees. A board of visitors, 
thirteen in number, is named, and the president authorized 
to fill vacancies in this board. February 9, i860. 

Rose Gates College: 

Located at Okolona, Chickasaw County, under control of Rec. of Inc., 
Protestant Episcopal Church. Wm. M. Green and seven 124. 
others trustees. Property limit, $30,000. May confer 
degrees and diplomas. June 14, i860. 



APPENDIX B 

COMPLETE INDEX TO EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI 
FROM 1802 TO 1860 BY TITLES OF ACTS 

The acts are given by legislative sessions in chronological order. Refer- 
ences in the margin are to pages in the statutes unless otherwise specified. 
In references to manuscript laws in state and territorial archives the series 
are indicated by a capital letter or a Roman numeral and the number in the 
series by an Arabic numeral. 

For instance: T.A., D, 2 means Territorial Archives, Series D, Number 2. 

TITLES OF ACTS 

Reference 
1802 

An act to establish a college in the Mississippi Territory. T.A., D, i. 

1803 — 'First Session 
An act to amend an act to establish a college in the Mis- T.A., D, 2. 
sissippi Territory. 

1803 — 'Second Session 
An act to incorporate the Mississippi Society for the T.A., D, 2. 
Acquirement and Dissemination of Useful Knowledge. 
An act empowering the board of trustees of Jefferson T.A., D, 2. 
College to elect new trustees. 

1807 
An act to incorporate the Franklin Society. Digest (18 16), 

52. 
An act for the relief and settlement of the poor. (Provides Hutchinson, 
for the education of orphans and certain other children by Code, 297. 
apprenticeship.) 

1809 

An act to establish an academy in the county of Claiborne. T.A., D, 6. 

1809 — First Session 
An act to incorporate the Natchez Mechanical Society T.A., D, 6. 

1809 — Second Session 
An act to establish an academy in the county of Claiborne. T.A., D, 6. 
(Madison Academy.) 

An act to amend an act for the relief and settlement of the T.A., D, 6. 
poor. 

162 



APPENDIX B 163 

Reference 
1811 

An act establishing an academy in Washington County T.A., D, 8. 
by name of Washington Academy. 

1812 

An act to amend the' act establishing an academy in Wash- Digest (18 16). 
ington County. 

An act establishing Greene Academy in the county of Digest (1816), 
Madison. 56-57. 

1814 — First Session 

An act appointing additional trustees for Greene Academy. T.A., D, 9. 

1 8 14 — Second Session 

An act to empower the board of trustees of Madison T.A., D, 9. 

Academy to change its site. 

An act to amend an act establishing an academy in Wash- T.A., D, 9. 

ington County by the name of Washington Academy. 

An act to establish an academy in Wilkinson County. T.A., D, 9, 

(Jackson Academy.) 

181S 

An act to establish an academy in Wilkinson County, and T.A., D, 10. 

for other purposes. (Wilkinson Academy.) 

An act to establish an academy at the town of Pinckney- T.A., D, 10. 

ville. (Pinckneyville Academy.) 

An act to establish an academy in Amite County. (Amite T.A., D, 10. 

Academy.) 

1816 

An act to authorize the trustees of the academy of Amite T.A., D, 11. 

County to raise a sum of money by lottery. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish a T.A., D, 11. 

college in the Mississippi Territory." 

A resolution relating to the library for the use of the legis- T.A., D, 11. 

lature, and for other purposes. 



An act to appoint trustees and to incorporate a library S.A., I, i. 

society in Greene County, to be known and styled "the 

Trustees of the Library Society of Greene County." 

An act to incorporate the Mississippi Literary and Library S.A., I, i. 

Company of Gibson Port. 

A resolution to provide for the education of the child of S.A., I, i. 

Josiah Simpson, deceased. 

An act to establish a college in the town of Shieldsborough. S.A., I, i. 



l64 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to appoint trustees and incorporate a debating and S.A., I, i. 

literary society in the county of Wilkinson, to be styled, 

"The Trustees of the Franklin Debating and Library 

Society." 

An act to provide for the lands given by the United States S.A., I, i. 

to the state of Mississippi for the benefit of schools. 

1819 
An act to incorporate a society to be known by the S.A., I, 2. 
name of the Franklin Debating and Library Society in 
Wilkinson County. 

An act to incorporate Elizabeth Female Academy in the S.A., I, 2. 
county of Adams. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the Beach Hill S.A., I, 2. 
Academy and Methodist Meeting House in Jefferson 
County. 

An act to incorporate the Pearl River Academy in the S.A., I, 2. 
county of Lawrence. 

An act to establish an academy in the city of Natchez. S.A., I, 2. 
An act to incorporate the Female Charitable Society S-.A., I, 2. 
(Natchez). 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the Wilkinson Female S.A., I, 2. 
Academy of Wilkinson County. 

1820 
An act to incorporate the Liberty Debating Literary S.A., I, 3, 
Society in Amite County. 

An act to incorporate the Amite Union Society for the S.A., I, 3. 
acquisition and dissemination of useful knowledge. 
An act to authorize the trustees of the Elizabeth Female S.A., I, 3. 
Academy to raise a sum of money by lottery. 

An act to incorporate the Columbian Academy under the S.A., I, 3, 
name and style of the president and trustees of the 
Columbian Academy. 

An act to amend an act to provide for the lands given by S.A., I, 3. 
the United States to the state of Mississippi for the benefit 
of schools. 

1 8 2 1 — January-February 
An act to incorporate the Pike Library Society. 92-93. 

An act to authorize a lease of certain town lots therein 73-75. 
named, and for other purposes. (Incorporates Franklin 
Academy.) 

1 82 1 — ^November 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Sligo Academy. 7-8. 

An act to estabhsh a Literary Fund, and for the encour- 27-34. 
agement of education in this state. 



APPENDIX B 165 

Reference 

An act concerning the location of the thirty-six sections 128-29. 
of land granted by Congress to this state for the use of a 
seminary of learning within the same. 

1823 — Session 1822-23 
An act amendatory to an act entitled, "an act to establish 103-4. 
a Literary Fund," etc. 

An act to incorporate Harmony Society of Jefferson 75-77- 
County. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Centre Academy 86-88. 
and Meeting House in Claiborne County. 

1824 
An act to appropriate moneys arising from the rents of 9-12. 
school lands, and for other purposes. 

1825 

An act to incorporate the Philomathean Society. 27-28. 

An act to provide for leasing the Seminary Lands. 13-14- 

An act to incorporate Flower Hill Academy. 77-78. 

An act to change the name and style of the Female Chari- 87-88. 
table Society, and for other purposes. 

1826 
An act to revive the charter of the Pinckneyville Academy lo-ii. 
in Wilkinson County. 

An act to establish Clinton Academy in the county of 63-65 
Claiborne. 

An act to establish an academy in Hinds County. Ham- 23-25. 
stead Academy; later, Mississippi College.) 
A resolution to authorize the governor to subscribe for 129. 
bank stock. (Investment of Literary Fund.) 
An act to amend an act to establish a college in the Mis- 51-52. 
sissippi Territory. 

An act to amend the act to provide for leasing the Semi- 69-70. 
nary Lands, passed January 29, 1825. 

An act to amend an act to appropriate the moneys arising 96-97. 
from the rents of school lands, and for other purposes, 
passed January 9, 1824. 

1827 
An act to amend an act to authorize a lease of certain 136-38. 
town lots therein named, and for other purposes, passed 
February 10, 1821. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish an 85-86. 
academy in the county of Hinds." 



1 66 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act for the relief of the Orphan Asylum of Natchez. 55-56. 

An act to appoint a board of trustees for Fayette Academy 58-59. 

in Jefferson County. 

An act supplemental to an act entitled "an act to provide 18-20. 

for leasing the Seminary Lands." 

An act to estabhsh a seminary of learning in the county 73-76. 

of Simpson. (Westville Academy.) 

1828 
An act to incorporate the members of the Franklin 11-12. 
Library Society (at MeadvUle). 

An act to establish Rutledge Academy in the county of 66-67. 
Copiah. 

A resolution to authorize the governor to subscribe for 130. 
bank stock. (Investment of Literary Fund.) 
An act to amend an act entitled, " an act to appropriate the 41-42. 
moneys arising from the rents of school lands, and for 
other purposes." 

1829 
An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to appropriate 29-30. 
the moneys arising from the rents of school lands, and for 
other purposes," passed January 9, 1824. 

An act to establish seminaries of learning at Benton in the 73-78. 
county of Yazoo, and Brandon in the county of Rankin. 
(Benton Academy and Pearl River Academy.) 
An act to appoint a board of trustees for Clinton Academy 46-47 
in Claiborne County. 

An act respecting certain lotteries. (Elizabeth Female 34-35. 
Academy, Trinity Church, and the Masonic Grand Lodge.) 
An act for the benefit of Mississippi Academy. 54-55- 

A resolution. (Authorizes quartermaster of state to lend 108. 
arms to Jefferson College.) 

A resolution in relation to the introduction of a general 111-12. 
system of education within this state. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to appropriate 13. 
the moneys arising from the rents of school lands, and 
for other purposes. 

1 830 — ^January-February 
A memorial to Congress. (Requests a substitute section 202-4. 
for sixteenth section of a township in Lawrence County.) 
An act to incorporate the trustees of Marion Academy. 51-52. 
An act to amend an act appropriating the moneys arising 144-45. 
from rents of school lands, and for other purposes. 



APPENDIX B 167 

Reference 

An act to further amend an act to authorize a lease of cer- 31-32. 

tain lots therein mentioned, and for other purposes, 

passed February 10, 1821. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Natchez Academy. 155-56. 

An act changing the name of Clinton Academy at Port 91. 

Gibson. (Changed to Port Gibson Academy.) 

An act to establish a town on the sixteenth section in 31-32. 

T. 10, R. 3, W. in the county of Yazoo. 

An act to revive the Literary Fund Law, passed Novem- 38. 

ber 26, 1821. 

1 830 — 'November 

An act to incorporate the board of trustees of the insti- 47-49. 

tution of learning under the care of the Mississippi 

Presbytery. 

An act to authorize the trustees of school lands in the 21. 

county of Pike to lease the same for a term of years. 

An act to repeal an act entitled, "an act to amend an act 9-10. 

to authorize the lease of certain lots therein named," 

passed February 10, 1821, and for other purposes. 

An act to incorporate the Brandon Library Society in the 21. 

county of Rankin. 

An act to revive an act passed February 12, 1819, entitled, 18. 

"an act incorporating a seminary of learning in the county 

of Lawrence called Pearl River Academy." 

An act to authorize the board of trustees of the school 11 5-16. 

lands of T. i, R. 4, W., in the county of Wilkinson, to 

lease or rent the school lands in fractional T. i, R. 5, W., in 

said county, and for other purposes. 

An act to repeal an act entitled, "an act to revive the 19. 

Literary Fund." 

An act to lease the sixteenth section in T. 5, R. 3 in Rankin 36. 

County. 

An act to provide for the leasing of school lands in certain 97-98. 

counties therein named. (Madison, Jefferson, Claiborne, 

Monroe, Lowndes.) 

A memorial to the Honorable, the Senate and House of 145-46. 

Representatives of the United States in Congress 

assembled. (Prays for substitute township in lieu of 

that originally granted Jefferson College.) 

An act supplemental to an act to amend an act entitled, 101-2. 

"an act to establish an academy in the county of Hinds," 

approved Februaiy 5, 1827. (Academy changed to 

Mississippi College.) 



l68 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to provide for leasing the Seminary Lands, and 1 13-14. 
for other purposes. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Hampden Academy 42-43. 
in the county of Hinds (at Raymond). 

1831 
An act to incorporate the trustees of the Meridian Springs 11 2-13. 
Academy, in Hinds County. 

An act to authorize the trustees of the school of Section 16, 44-45. 
T. 5,R. I, W., Choctaw district, to locate the schoolhouse of 
said section. 

An act to incorporate the members of the Vicksburg 49-50. 
Institute. 

An act to incorporate the Meridian Springs Library 41-42. 
Society, in Hinds County. 

An act to alter and amend the charter of the corporation 120-22. 
of president and trustees of Franklin Academy in the 
county of Lowndes. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish a 33-34. 
town on the sixteenth section in T. 10, R. 3, W., in the 
county of Yazoo, approved February 12, 1830. 

1833 — January-February 
An act to incorporate Yazoo Academy, and for other pur- S.A., I, 18. 
poses. (Incorporates also Hickory Springs Academy.) 
An act further to incorporate the school commissioners S.A., I, 18. 
for fractional T. i, R. 4, W. (Brandon Academy.) 
An act to incorporate the Pearl River Academy in the S.A., I, 18. 
county of Madison. 

An act to authorize the trustees of the school lands within S.A., I, 18. 
each township in this state to lease the sixteenth section 
for ninety-nine years, and for other purposes. 

An act to alter and amend the charter of incorporation S.A., I, 18. 
of the president and trustees of Franklin County, in the 
county of Lowndes, and to repeal an act entitled, "an 
act to amend the charter," etc., approved December 19, 
1831. 

An act for the distribution of the Literary Fund among S.A., I, 18. 
the several counties of the state. 

1833 — No vember-D ecember 
A resolution in relation to the refuse lands in the various S.A., I, 19. 
counties in the state of Mississippi. (Seeks to have them 
donated to the counties for school purposes.) 

An act to incorporate the Spring Ridge Academy in the S.A., I, 19. 
county of Madison. 



APPENDIX B 169 

Reference 

An act concerning Jefferson College. S.A., I, 19. 

An act to amend part of the acts in relation to the Missis- S.A., I, 19. 
sippi College. 

A memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives S.A., I, 19. 
of the United States. (Seeks substitutes for sterile six- 
teenth sections.) 

An act to incorporate the Gallatin Female Academy in S.A., I, 19. 
the county of Copiah. 

An act to carry into effect the provisions of an act entitled, S.A., I, 19. 
"an act for the distribution of the Literary Fund among 
the several counties of the state, and for other purposes." 

1836 

An act to incorporate the Monticello Academy in the 385-86. 
county of Lawrence. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the trustees of 395. 
Hampden Academy in the county of Hinds. 

An act to incorporate the Canton Female Academy in 396-97. 
the county of Madison. 

An act in relation to Pearl River Academy. (In Rankin. 392-93. 
Name changed to Brandon Academy.) 

An act to incorporate the Madisonville Male and Female 380-82. 
academies in the county of Madison. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Washington Irving 393-95. 
Academy, in the town of Franklin, and for other purposes. 
An act to incorporate Carrollton Academy in the county 386-88. 
of Carroll. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish a 377. 
seminary of learning in the county of Simpson," passed 
January 27, 1827. 

An act to incorporate the Richlands Academy in the 377-79. 
county of Carroll. 

An act to incorporate Judson Institute. (Hinds County.) 382-84. 
An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to authorize the 15-20. 
trustees of school lands in each township in this state to 
lease the sixteenth sections within the same for ninety- 
nine years, and for other purposes." 

An act to incorporate Paulding Academy in Jasper County. 384-85. 
An act to incorporate the trustees of Gallatin Male 389-91. 
Academy. (Copiah County.) 

1837 — January 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Lane Academy in the S.A., I, 20. 
city of Vicksburg. 



I70 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

1837 — April-May 

An act to authorize the trustees of T. 13, R. 19 in Noxubee i. 

County, to lease a portion of the sixteenth section in less 

quantities than 80 acres. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Marion Academy. 118-20. 

(Lauderdale County.) 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Lewisville Academy, 127-28. 

and for other purposes. (Winston County.) 

An act to incorporate the Hernando Academy in the 170-71. 

county of De Soto. 

An act to incorporate the Greensboro academies in the 178-79. 

town of Choctaw. 

An act to incorporate Sharon College and Sharon Female 223-24. 

Academy, in Madison County. 

An act to incorporate the male and female Pinckney 304-5. 

Academy. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the Mount Carmel 310-11. 

Male and Female Academy. (Covington County.) 

An act authorizing the trustees of section 16, T. 5, R. 2, 384. 

E., to lease a portion of the same. 



An act to incorporate the Oxford Male and Female acade- 75-77. 

mies in the town of Oxford. 

An act to amend the charter of Port Gibson Academy. 79-82. 

An act to authorize the trustees of T. 14, S., R. 18, W., 117. 

in Monroe County, to make title to the respective lessees 

of the sixteenth section of said township. 

An act to revive an act incorporating the trustees of Meri- 118. 

dian Springs Academy in Hinds County. 

An act to authorize the board of trustees and their sue- 124-25. 

cessors in ofl&ce of the sixteenth section, T. 2, R. 9, E., in 

the county of Smith, to make titles to the lessees of school 

lands. 

An act to provide for a state library. 165-66. 

An act to incorporate the subscribers to the Colbert Male 202-6. 

and Female Academy in the county of Lowndes. 

An act to incorporate the Pontotoc Female Academy. 229-31. 

An act for the benefit of the Orphan Asylum in the city 245. 

of Natchez. 

An act to authorize the board of police of Rankin County 303-4. 

to confirm the lease of the sixteenth section of T. 6, R. 4, E. 



APPENDIX B 171 

Reference 

1839 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the Coffeeville Male 195-96. 

and Female Academy in the county of Yalobusha. 

An act for the benefit of Cayuga Male and Female 201. 

Academy in the county of Hinds. 

An act to incorporate the female academy of Holly Springs 202-3. 

in Marshall County. 

An act to incorporate the Chulahoma College and Chula- 206-7. 

homa Female Academy in Marshall County. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Farmington Academy 208-9. 

in the county of Tishomingo, and for other purposes. 

An act to incorporate the male and female academies of 213-14. 

Wyatt in the county of Lafayette. 

An act concerning school lands. 34. 

An act to incorporate the Wahalak Female Academy in 220-22. 

the county of Kemper, and the Oak Hill Academy in the 

county of Copiah. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the Hernando 223-24. 

Academy. 

An act to incorporate the Chulahoma College and Com- 227-28. 

mercial Institute in the town of Chulahoma. 

An act to incorporate the Amite Library and Debating 233-35. 

Society. 

An act to incorporate the subscribers to the De Kalb Male 239-42. 

and Female Academy in the county of Kemper. 

An act to incorporate the University at Holly Springs. 245-46. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the Woodville Classi- 251-53. 

cal School in Wilkinson County. 

An act to incorporate the Macon Male and Female 256-59. 

Academy, and the Mount Pleasant and Shugualak 

academies in the county of Noxubee. 

An act for the benefit of education. (In interest of 38-40. 

academies.) 

An act to establish a common school in the county of 260-62. 

Bolivar. 

An act to authorize the boards of trustees for certain 289. 

townships therein mentioned to establish joint schools. 

An act confirming the lease of the sixteenth section in 294. 

T. 7, R. 7, E. in the county of Lawrence. 

An act to confirm the lease of the sixteenth section of T. 8, 302. 

R. I, E. (Madison County.) 

An act to incorpoiate the board of trustees of the Male 357~58. 

and Female Academy in the town of Plymouth. 



172 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to revive the incorporation of the Amite Academy. 360. 

An act to incorporate Grenada College. 373-75- 

An act to incorporate the board of trustees of Emery 378-80. 

Academy in the county of Holmes. 

An act to incorporate the Grenada Male and Female 380-81. 

academies. 

An act to legalize the leasing of school lands in the county 417. 

of Neshoba. 

A memorial to Congress. (Relative to Chickasaw Lands.) 99-100. 

1840 
An act to amend an act entitled, "an act for the benefit 119. 
of education." 

An act to incorporate the Almucha Academy and Free 134-37. 
Church. 

An act to incorporate the Thickwoods Academy in the 148-49. 
county of Amite. 

An act to incorporate the Greensboro academies, and for 157-59. 
other purposes. 

An act to incorporate the board of trustees of the Gallatin 66-68. 
Academy in the county of Copiah. 

An act to incorporate the Woodville Female Academy in 161. 
the town of Woodville, Wilkinson County. 

An act to incorporate the Amite Library and Debating 273-74. 
Society. 

An act to incorporate the Franklin Library and Debating 276-77. 
Society in the county of Franklin. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to incorporate 52-53. 
the Trustees of the Woodville Classical School." 
An act to incorporate the stockholders and trustees of the 73-75. 
Mississippi Female College in the city of Columbus. 
An act to incorporate the Constantine Male and Female 162-63. 
Academy in the county of Noxubee. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the North Mississippi 164-66. 
College. 

An act to legalize and confirm the sale of a lot of ground 170-71. 
therein named. (Carries out a provision of charter of 
Macon Academy.) 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Rienzi Academy in 171-73. 
the county of Tishomingo. 

An act to incorporate the Tchula Library and Debating 295-96. 
Society. 

An act to incorporate the Vicksburg Female Academy. 131-32. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the Richland 144. 
Academy, in Carroll County. 



APPENDIX B 173 

Reference 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act in relation to 173-75. 

Pearl River Academy, passed February 24, 1846. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the Judson Insti- 175. 

tute, approved February 27, 1836. 

An act to confirm the lease of the sixteenth sections in 124. 

the county of Covington, 

An act to provide for the location of the state university. 92-95. 

An act to legalize the leasing of school lands in the county 187-88. 

of Choctaw. 

An act to provide for the collection of the proceeds of the 196-97. 

lease of the school lands of the sixteenth section, in T. 22, 

R. 3, E. in Tallahatchie County. 

An act to authorize the trustees of school section 16, of 197. 

T. 13, R. 2, E., in Holmes County, to rescind the sale 

thereof, or to purchase the same and offer at public sale, 

for the benefit of the township. 

An act to incorporate the Columbia Academy in the 223-25. 

county of Marion. 

An act to establish the Yazoo Library Association. 279-80. 

1841 
An act to incorporate the Wahalak Male Academy in the 263-65. 
county of Kemper. 

An act to amend the law as to leases of sixteenth sections. 127. 
An act to authorize the trustees of school section 16, of 206-7. 
T. 9, R. 6, E., in Copiah County, to rescind the sale thereof. 
An act to further regulate the election of trustees of school 216-17. 
lands in Franklin County. 

An act to incorporate the Holly Springs Library and 287-88. 
Debating Society in the county of Marshall. 
An act to incorporate the Commerce Male and Female 281. 
Academy. 

A resolution in relation to Jefferson College. 159. 

An act to authorize the trustees of T. 10, R. 3, E., to 176. 
rescind the sale of the sixteenth section of said township. 
An act to authorize the trustees of section 16, T. 25, R. 3, 193. 
E., in the county of Yalobusha, to make deeds thereto. 
An act to prescribe the place of holding the public school 202-3. 
in T. 19, R. 17, E. in Lowndes County. 

An act for the relief of Samuel L. Moore, and for other 218. 
purposes. (Sixteenth section.) 

An act to authorize the county police of the several coun- 122-23. 
ties in the state to expose to public sale all depreciated 
bank paper in their county treasuries. (Section 2 
authorizes trustees of school lands to do likewise.) 



174 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act in relation to the university of the state of 143-45. 

Mississippi. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the Williamsburg 248-49. 

Male and Female Academy. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the Oakland Male 254. 

and Female Academy. 

An act authorizing the administrator of the estate of 239-41. 

H. W. Runnels, deceased, to pay for a certain portion of 

the Seminary Lands, purchased from the state under 

provisions of the act to provide for selling said lands. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the male and 258-59. 

female academies of Grenada, approved February 15, 1859. 

An act to legalize the lease of certain school lands in county 280. 

of Coahoma. 

An act for the relief of McLin Evans, and for other pur- 244-45. 

poses. (Sixteenth section.) 

1842 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act incorporating the 219. 

Female Academy of Holly Springs, in Marshall County." 

An act authorizing the board of poHce of Jasper County 164-65. 

to rent out the sixteenth sections in said county, and for 

other purposes. 

An act to legalize the sale of certain school lands in 151. 

the county of Coahoma. 

An act to authorize the trustees of schools and school 177. 

lands for T. 2, R. 2, W., in Wilkinson County, to rescind 

the sale thereof, or to purchase the same for the benefit 

of said township. 

An act to authorize the trustees of the sixteenth section 176. 

of T. 10, R. I, W., in Yazoo County, to purchase a portion 

of said section for the benefit of the township. 

An act to repeal an act to incorporate the trustees of the 162-64. 

Oakland Male and Female Academy, and to provide for 

the reincorporation of said institution. 

An act concerning school section number 4, T. 12, R. 2, E., 174. 

in Claiborne County. 

An act to authorize the trustees of certain sixteenth sec- 178. 

tions to rescind the contracts for leasing them. 

An act for the relief of John Patterson of Bolivar County. 203-4. 

An act to incorporate the Marion Male and Female 166-68. 

Academy in the county of Lauderdale. 

An act to authorize the trustees of schools and school 130-33. 

lands in all of the sixteenth sections reserved to this state 



APPENDIX B 175 

Reference 

by act of Congress, to rescind sales, leases, and other con- 
tracts made in relation thereto, and for other purposes. 
An act to incorporate the trustees of the sixteenth section 222-23. 
of T. 10, R. 2, E. in Madison and Yazoo counties. 
An act for the benefit of schools in T. 8, R. 3, E., in 224. 
Madison County. 

A memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives 265-66. 
of the United States on the subject of the sixteenth sec- 
tions in the Chickasaw cession. 

A resolution in relation to the land on which the state 258. 
university has been located. 

1843 
An act to incorporate the Centenary College in the county 67-69. 
of Rankin. 

An act to compensate the commissioners appointed to 81-82. 
locate the lands allowed the state of Mississippi by Con- 
gress, in lieu of the sixteenth sections in the Chickasaw 
cession. 

An act to amend an act in relation to school lands in the 106. 
counties of Smith and Jones, passed in the year 1839. 
An act to incorporate the Aberdeen Male Academy. 89-91. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Raleigh Academy 94-95. 
in the county of Smith. 

An act to revive an act to incorporate the trustees of the 108-9. 
Natchez Academy. 

An act for the collection and investment of the Seminary 57-64. 
Fund. 

An act to amend the several acts of this state in relation 87-89. 
to Jefferson College. 
An act to incorporate the Pontotoc Athenaeum. 93~94' 

1844 

An act to incorporate the Humane and Benevolent 248-49. 

Society of Vicksburg with an Orphan Asylum annexed. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the Friendship Male 253-54. 

Academy in the county of Panola. 

An act to authorize the trustees of schools in T. i, R. 4, 363. 

W., in the county of Wilkinson, to rescind the sale, lease, 

or contract, made for, or concerning, the school lands in 

fractional T. i, R. 5, W. 

An act to incorporate the Male and Female Academy of 261-62. 

Houston in the county of Chickasaw. 

An act to incorporate the Decatur Male and Female 254-56. 

Academy in the county of Newton. 



176 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to incorporate the trustees of the Lexington Male 266-67. 
and Female Academy in the county of Holmes. 
An act to secure to the Chickasaw counties the benefit of 238-40. 
the lands given to the state in lieu of the sixteenth sec- 
tions in the Chickasaw cession. 

An act to regulate the rate of interest on the school fund, 124-25. 
and for other purposes. 

An act supplementary to an act for the collection and 129-30. 
investment of the Seminary Fund, approved July 18, 1843. 
An act to amend the charter of Jefferson College. 225-26. 

An act to incorporate the University of Mississippi. 227-28. 

1846 
An act for the establishment of a seminary of learning in 419-20. 
the city of Jackson. 

An act supplementary to an act for the incorporation of 248-49. 
the University of Mississippi, approved February 24, 1844. 
An act to authorize and require the trustees of schools and 412-13. 
school lands in the city of Columbus, in T. 18, S., of R. 18, 
W., to execute deeds to lots of less dimensions than one- 
fourth of one acre, and for other purposes. 

An act to restore a board of trustees of the sixteenth sec- 350-52. 
tion in T. 5, R. 3, E. 

An act to legaUze the sale of the sixteenth section of T. 7, 437-38. 
R. 9, E., in Scott County. 

An act supplementary to an act entitled, "an act to 535-36. 
incorporate the Canton Female Academy of Madison 
County," approved February 5, 1836. 

An act to incorporate the Black Hawk Male and Female 430-31. 
academies in the county of Carroll. 

An act to incorporate the president and trustees of the 389-91. 
Aberdeen Female Academy. 

An act to incorporate the Pontotoc Male Academy. 370-71. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Zion Seminary in 367-68. 
the county of Covington. 

An act to repeal the second section of an act entitled, "an 223. 
act to regulate the rate of interest on the school fund, 
and for other purposes," approved February 13, 1844. 
An act to incorporate the Lexington Literary and Debat- 490-91. 
ing Society. 

An act to incorporate St. Thomas' Hall in the town of 330-31. 
Holly Springs. 

An act to incorporate the Sharon Female College in the 449-52. 
town of Sharon, Madison County. 



APPENDIX B 

An act to authorize John C. Pryor, .... to sell the 
property known as the Female Academy, in the town of 
Hernando, De Soto County. 

An act to establish a system of common schools, and for 
other purposes. 

An act supplemental to an act entitled, "an act to estab- 
lish a system of common schools, and for other purposes." 
An act supplemental to an act passed at the present ses- 
sion of the legislature entitled, "an act to establish a 
system of common schools and for other purposes." 
An act supplemental to an act passed at the present ses- 
sion of the legislature entitled, "an act to establish a sys- 
tem of common schools," etc. 

An act to provide for the payment of the debts due for the 
state library, and for an interchange of books between 
this state and the several states of the Union. 
An act to authorize the commissioner of the Seminary 
Fund to compound with the debtors thereof. 
An act to provide for the erection of permanent school- 
houses in the city of Jackson. 

1848 
An act to incorporate the Macon Female Institute in 
Noxubee County. 

An act to appropriate a portion of the Yazoo City Hospital 
Fund to educational purposes. 

An act to incorporate Canton Male Academy in the 
county of Madison. 

An act to incorporate the president and trustees of Aber- 
deen Female Academy. 

An act to incorporate the trustees of Eureka Masonic 
College at Richland, Holmes County. 
An act to legalize the lease of sixteenth sections in Pike 
County. 

An act extending certain privileges to Masons, Odd 
FeUows, Sons of Temperance, Literary, Benevolent, and 
other societies and companies. (Permits incorporation 
by county probate clerks.) 

An act to provide for the leasing of Chickasaw School 
Lands. 

An act to legalize the sale and purchase of section 16, 
T. 2, R. 14, E. in the county of Clarke. 
A memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States in Congress assembled. (Sixteenth 
sections.) 



177 



Reference 

454-55- 



98-104. 

105. 

105-6. 

106. 

183. 

241-42. 
359-61- 

467-69. 

228. 

469-72. 

483-84. 

474-76. 

237-38- 

103-4. 

62-67. 

256-57- 

543-45- 



178 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act for the relief of John Patterson. 494-95. 

An act to annex, in the county of Adams, T. 8, R. 2, W., 235-36. 
to T. 8, R. 3, W. and for other purposes. 

An act for the relief of James S. Bailey. 495. 

An act for the further endowment of the University of 104-5. 
Mississippi. 

An act relative to the trustees of the University. 169. 

An act to prohibit the sale of vinous and spirituous liquors 151-52. 
in less quantities than five gallons within five miles of the 
University of Mississippi. 

An act to incorporate the Raymond Female Institute. 472-73. 

An act for the benefit of Aberdeen Female Academy. 477. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the trustees of the 487. 
Louisville Academy, approved May 9, 1837. 

An act to legalize the sale of the sixteenth section in T. 6, 230-31. 
R. 16, E. in the county of Lauderdale. 

An act in relation to the school fund of T. 12, R. 2, E. in 231. 
Yazoo County. 

An act supplementary to an act entitled, "an act to 196-98. 
establish a system of public schools, and for other pur- 
poses," approved March 4, 1846. (For Warren County.) 
An act requiring the treasurers of Pontotoc and Lafayette 239-40. 
counties to lend the school fund of said counties. 
An act to reduce the percentage of the treasurer of the 240-41. 
county of Harrison, so far as relates to the common school 
fimd. 

An act to provide for the application of the common 199-201. 
school fund that has or may hereafter accrue under an 
act approved March 4, 1846, in the county of Marion. 
An act for the better regulation of the state library. 148-51. 

An act to aid in the establishment of an institution for 153-55. 
the instruction of the blind. 

An act concerning the Hernando Female Academy. 476. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish a 143-44. 
system of common schools, and for other purposes," 
passed March 4, 1846. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish a 145-47. 
system of common schools, and for other purposes," 
approved March 4, 1846. 

An act to provide for and establish common schools in 185-86. 
the counties of Hinds, Holmes, Tunica, Jefferson, Wilkin- 
son, Lawrence, and Amite. 

An act to repeal an act to establish a system of common 201-4. 
schools, and for other purposes, approved March 4, 1846, 



APPENDIX B 



179 



so far as the same refers to the counties of Noxubee, 
Lowndes, Yalobusha, Winston, Covington, Jefferson, 
Neshoba, Scott, Newton, Madison, Bolivar, Carroll, Sun- 
flower, Tallahatchie, Claiborne, and Kemper. 
An act to incorporate the Columbus Female Institute in 
the county of Lowndes. 

An act to incorporate Enterprise Academy in the county 
of Clarke. 

An act to incorporate the Pleasant Hill Male and Female 
Academy in the county of Jasper. 

1850 

An act to incorporate the board of visitors of Yazoo 

Classical Hall in Yazoo County. 

An act for the relief of the heirs of Daniel Fore and John 

Collier. (Sixteenth section.) 

An act to amend an act establishing a system of common 

schools, approved March 4, 1846. 

An act to amend the school law of March 4, 1846, so far 

as the same relates to the county of Choctaw. 

An act to amend an act to provide for common schools, 

approved March 4, 1848, and for other purposes, so far as 

relates to the county of Amite. 

An act to authorize the school trustees of T. 4, R. 3, W., 

in Hinds County, to execute a lease to Henry D. Gibbs, 

for ninety-nine years, for certain portions of the sixteenth 

section therein. 

An act for the benefit of Yazoo Female Academy. 

An act to establish a system of common schools in Yazoo 

Coun.ty. 

An act to amend the several laws of this state in relation 

to common schools, so far as relates to Chickasaw County. 

An act to provide for the common school within the town 

of Woodville. 

An act to provide for the distribution of the common 

school fund of the county of Rankin. 

An act to repeal an act to establish a system of common 

schools, approved March 4, 1846, so far as relates to the 

county of Attala, and for other purposes. 

An act to incorporate Pearl River Female Academy, in 

T. 7, R. 2, E. in Madison County. 

An act for the relief of the trustees of schools and school 

lands in T. 10, R. i, east of the basis meridian west of 

Pearl River, and for other purposes. 



Reference 



477-81. 

482. 

482-83. 

461-62. 

491. 

83. 

131- 

169-71. 

193-94- 

493- 
145-46. 

153-56. 

131- 
132. 
167-69. 

314- 
469-74. 



l8o EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to provide for the payment of teachers employed 82-83. 

under an act to establish common schools, and for other 

purposes, approved March 4, 1846. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate Black Hawk Male 311. 

and Female academies in the county of Carroll. 

An act to incorporate the Polkville Male and Female 395-96. 

Academy in the county of Smith. 

An act to repeal an act entitled, "an act for the benefit 490-91. 

of the Aberdeen Academy," approved February 28, 1848, 

and for other purposes. 

An act to legalize the sales of sixteenth sections within 226-28. 

the county of Jones, and for other purposes. 

An act to establish common schools in Holmes County. 160-67. 

An act to prescribe the mode of applying school funds in 230-31. 

Tippah County, and for other purposes. 

An act to provide for the education of poor children in 249-52. 

the county of Issaquena (Lawrence). 

An act to legalize the lease of certain school lands therein 268. 

mentioned. 

An act to change the name of Aberdeen Female Academy, 279. 

and for other purposes. 

An act to authorize the trustees of the Hernando Female 209-10. 

Academy to transfer the institution. 

An act to reduce into one the several acts heretofore 132-41. 

passed in relation to sixteenth sections and common 

schools, so far as relates to the county of Hinds. 

An act to incorporate Eudocia Female College, in the 361-63. 

town of Black Hawk, county of Carroll. 

An act to increase the common school fund of the county 280. 

of Tishomingo. 

An act to repeal an act entitled, "an act to amend 'an 128. 

act to establish a system of common schools,' approved 

March 4, 1846," approved March 4, 1848, so far as same 

applies to the county of Adams, and for other purposes. 

An act to further endow the University of Mississippi. 127. 

An act to amend an act to provide for and establish com- 129. 

mon schools in the counties of Hinds, Holmes, Tunica, 

Jefferson, Wilkinson, Lawrence, and Amite. 

An act to extend to the counties of Monroe and Rankin 142. 

the provisions of an act entitled, "an act to repeal an 

act to establish a system of common schools, approved 

March 4, 1846, so far as the same relates to the counties 

of Noxubee, Lowndes, etc., approved March 4, 1848. 



APPENDIX B l8l 

Reference 

An act supplemental to an act to establish common 156. 

schools in the county of Holmes. 

An act to establish a system of common schools and to 149-53. 

regulate the leasing of school sections in Washington 

County. 

An act to amend an act to establish a system of common 159. 

schools, approved March 4, 1846, so far as the same 

relates to the county of Simpson. 

An act to legalize all sales of sixteenth sections in Copiah, 243. 

Sunflower, Coahoma, and Hancock counties. 

An act to repeal the fifth section of an act approved 272. 

March i, 1848, entitled, "an act requiring the treasurers 

of Pontotoc and Lafayette counties to lend the school 

fund of said counties. 

An act to incorporate the Salem High School Association, 452-53. 

in the county of Greene. 

An act for the benefit of the Macon Female Institute, 474-77. 

the Male Academy in the town of Macon, and for the 

promotion of education. 

An act to establish a system of schools in the county of 147-48. 

Scott. 

An act to repeal an act entitled, "an act to establish a 149. 

system of common schools, "approved March 4, 1846, 

so far as same applies to T. 1 7, R. 5, E. in Warren County. 

An act to return certain taxes illegally assessed on lands 193-94. 

of Jefferson College. 

An act to incorporate Almucha Academy. 403-4 

An act for the relief of Benjamin W. Leggett, and for 479. 

other purposes. (Sixteenth section lease.) 

An act to incorporate Kemper College. 443-45. 

An act to authorize the citizens of fractional T. 17, 248. 

R. 19, in Lowndes County, to organize a board of trustees 

consisting of three members. 

An act concerning common schools in the county of 145. 

Jefferson. 

An act to authorize the state commissioner to sell the 69 

lands belonging to the seminary, lying in the different 

counties in this state. 

An act to authorize the trustees of T. 5, R. 5, E., in Rankin 257. 

County, to make titles to the sixteenth section of said 

township. 

An act to legaHze the sales of sixteenth sections in the 281. 

county of Smith. 



l82 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to amend an act for the relief of John Patterson. 490. 

(Sixteenth section lease.) 

An act to amend the acts incorporating Louisville 272. 

Academy. 

A resolution in relation to school lands. 512. 

An act to promote common schools in the several counties 67. 

of the state. 

An act supplemental to an act entitled, "an act to pro- 142-43. 

mote common schools in the several counties of the 

state," so far as relates to Lauderdale County. 

An act to repeal an act to establish a system of common 157-59. 

schools, approved March 4, 1846, so far as the same 

relates to the county of Warren. 

An act for the relief of the Natchez Orphans' Asylum. 478. 

A resolution in relation to the University of Mississippi. 516. 

1850 — November 
An act to change the name of the Mississippi Academy 32. 
and to authorize the institution to lend its funds at 
10 per cent per annum. 

An act to incorporate the Euclid Male and Female 34-35. 
Academy in the county of Tishomingo. 

1852 — January-March 
An act relative to the Liberty Male and Female Academy 472. 
in Amite County. 

An act in relation to the sixteenth sections and common 476-82. 
schools in Issaquena County. 

An act to amend the charter of the Lexington Male and 421. 
Female Academy. 

An act to incorporate the Choctaw Collegiate Institute, 221-23; 
and for other purposes. 431-33- 

An act to incorporate Wilmarth College at Natchez. 437-38- 

An act for the relief of Fayette Academy in the county 436. 
of Jefferson. 

An act to legalize the sale of the sixteenth sections in the 443-44- 
counties of Newton and Wayne, and for other purposes. 
An act to legalize the leases of sixteenth sections in 455-56. 
Simpson County. 

An act to incorporate Newton Institute. 458-59. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate Pleasant Hill 473. 
Male and Female Academy. 

An act to authorize the board of police of Yalobusha 459-60. 
County to provide for the distribution of the common 
school funds, and for other purposes. 



APPENDIX B 

An act to establish a common school system in the town 
of Shieldsborough in the county of Hancock. 
An act to incorporate the Enon High School in the 
county of Perry. 

An act to incorporate the Yalobusha Baptist Female 
Institute. 

An act to authorize the trustees of schools and school 
lands in townships 9 and 10, R. 4, E., in the county of 
Madison, to appropriate the interest annually arising 
from the funds due said township to the erection of a 
college in the town of Sharon. 

An act to incorporate Mississippi Female College, in the 
town of Hernando, De Soto County. 
An act to incorporate the Cold Water Baptist Female 
Seminary in the town of Chulahoma, county of Marshall. 
An act to repeal an act supplemental to an act to pro- 
mote common schools, so far as it relates to the county 
of Lauderdale. 

An act in regard to sixteenth sections in the county of 
Winston. 

An act to amend the several acts incorporating the 
Louisville Academy in Winston County. 
An act to amend an act to provide for the establishment 
of common schools in the counties of Hinds, etc., approved 
March 4, 1848, and an act to amend said act, approved 
March 4, 1850, and for other purposes, so far as the same 
relates to Wilkinson County. 

An act incorporating a board of trustees for the Collegiate 
High School of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 
Columbus. 

An act to amend an act for the benefit of Macon Female 
Institute and the Male Academy, etc., approved March 4, 
1850. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to amend the 
school law of March 4, 1846, so far as the same relates to 
the county of Choctaw," approved February 6, 1850. 
An act to incorporate Maple Spring Male Academy in 
Tippah County. 

An act to incorporate the Masonic and Odd Fellows 
High School at Banks ton in the county of Choctaw. 
An act to extend certain portions of an act entitled, "an act 
to provide for the education of poor children in the county 
of Issaquena," approved February 26, 1850, to the county 
of Franklin. 



183 



Reference 
486-90. 

4II-13. 

407-8. 

385-86. 



413-14- 

404. 

402. 

395-96. 
397-98. 
399-400. 

375-76. 

375- 

376. 

287-88. 
290-92. 
393-94- 



1 84 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to amend an act to further endow the University 189-90. 
of Mississippi, approved March 5, 1850. 

An act to authorize certain boards of township trustees 212-13. 
to make titles. 

An act to incorporate the Kosciusko Masonic Female 236-38. 
College in the town of Kosciusko. 

An act to incorporate Bascom Female Seminary in the 292-93. 
town of Grenada. 

An act to incorporate the Madison College in the town 272-75. 
of Sharon, Madison County. 

An act supplemental to an act amendatory of an act 339-41. 
entitled, "an act to reduce into one the several acts here- 
tofore passed in relation to sixteenth sections and com- 
mon schools, so far as relates to the county of Hinds." 
An act to regulate the granting of licenses to retailers of 230-32. 
vinous and spirituous liquors in the county of Holmes. 
An act to legalize the sale of the sixteenth section of T. 5, 235. 
R. 16 E. in the county of Kemper. 

An act in relation to schools in Yazoo County. 236. 

An act supplemental to an act entitled, "an act to incor- 221-22. 
porate the Choctaw Collegiate Institute," approved Janu- 
ary 27, 1852. 

An act to amend an act supplemental to an act entitled, 190-91. 
"an act to establish a system of common schools," 
approved March 3, 1848. 

An act to incorporate the Mary Washington Female 149-53. 
College, at or near Pontotoc, Mississippi. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish a 156. 
system of common schools in the county of Scott," 
approved March 5, 1850. 

An act to establish a system of common schools in the 318-19. 
counties of Newton and Clarke. 

An act to legalize the lease of the sixteenth section in 238. 
T. 6, R. I, W. in the county of Hinds. 

An act to legalize the lease of a portion of the sixteenth 286. 
section, T. 5, R. i E., in the county of Hinds. 
An act to incorporate Pleasant Ridge Male and Female 315-16. 
Academy in Tippah County. 

An act to amend an act to establish a system of common 318-19. 
schools, approved March 4, 1846, so far as they relate to 
the county of Franklin. 

An act to provide for the construction of a levee upon 41-49. 
the Mississippi River, for the reclamation of state and 
school lands, and for other purposes. 



APPENDIX B 185 

Reference 
An act supplementary to an act entitled, "an act to pro- 146-48. 
mote common schools in the several counties in this state," 
approved March 9, 1850. 

An act to extend certain portions of an act to provide for 325. 
the education of poor children in the county of Issaquena, 
etc., to the county of Jefferson, and for other purposes. 
An act to incorporate the stockholders and trustees of 326-27. 
the Middleton Female Seminary. 

An act to incorporate Greenwood Female Institute in 331-32. 
the county of Jasper. 

An act supplemental to an act to establish an institution 92-93. 
for the instruction of the blind, approved March 8, 1850. 
An act supplemental to an act entitled, "an act to pro- 244. 
vide for the leasing of the Chickasaw school lands," 
approved February 23, 1848. 

An act to provide for the management of schools and 313-15. 
school funds in the county of Copiah. 

An act to incorporate the Southern Scientific Institute. 343-44. 
An act to incorporate the Simpson Male and Female 345. 
Seminary in Simpson County. 

An act in reference to the school fund in Madison County. 349-50. 
An act to amend an act, approved February 27, 1833, in 354-55. 
relation to trustees of school lands. 
An act in relation to the common school fund of Oktib- 383-84. 

beha County. 

1852 — October 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act in regard to the 152. 

sixteenth sections in the county of Winston," approved 

February 25, 1852. 

An act to incorporate the Presbyterian Female Collegiate 139-40. 

Institute of Pontotoc. 

An act supplemental to an act to amend an act in relation 165. 

to establishing a system of common schools in the counties 

of Newton and Clarke, in so far as relates to the latter. 

An act to secure the county of Calhoun its quota of the 166-67. 

common school fund disbursed from the state treasury. 

An act to incorporate a literary institution near Jackson, 26-27. 

in the county of Hinds, under the name of the College of 

St. Andrews. 

An act to authorize the inhabitants of fractional Town- 1 16-17. 

ship 19, S., R. 18, W., in the county of Lowndes, to sell 

and convey in fee simple the land heretofore selected, 

approved and reserved for the support of schools 

in said fractional township. 



1 86 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to amend the several acts of this state in relation 194-97. 
to common schools, so far as relates to the county of Jasper. 
An act to legalize the lease of section 16, T. 15, R. 8, E. 88. 
in the county of Attala. 

An act amendatory to an act entitled, "an act to estab- 59-60. 
lish a system of common schools," approved March 4, 
1846. 

An act explanatory of an act supplementary to an act 60-61. 
entitled, "an act to provide for the leasing of the Chicka- 
saw school lands," approved March 16, 1852. 
An act to incorporate the Canton Female Institute in the 90-91. 
town of Canton, Madison County. 

An act to amend an act to prescribe the mode of applying 93-94. 
school funds in Tippah County, approved March 8, 1850, 
and for other purposes. 

An act for the benefit of the Natchez Orphan Asylum. 114. 

An act to authorize any citizen of any township or frac- 181. 
tional township in the county of Lowndes, where no 
trustees of schools or school funds have been elected, to 
proceed to the election of trustees for such township or 
fractional township. 

An act to incorporate the Crawfordsville Male and Female 1 53-54. 
institutes in the county of Lowndes. 

An act to legalize the lease of section 16, in T. 15, R. 5, E. 91-92. 
of the Columbus land district. 
An act for the benefit of the state university. 47-48. 

1854 
An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to provide for 392. 
the management of schools and school funds in the 
county of Copiah," approved March 16, 1852. 
An act to authorize the school commissioners of Clarke 400. 
County to make and execute a good and valid lease to 
M. J. Sumrall to certain lands therein named. 
An act to incorporate the Monroe Female Institute in 485-86. 
the town of Aberdeen. 

An act for the benefit of sixteenth sections in the county 446. 
of Noxubee. 

An act to incorporate the Port Gibson Collegiate Academy 418-ig. 
in the county of Claiborne. 

An act to incorporate the Good Hope Academy, in the 394. 
county of Leake. 

An act to amend an act incorporating the Cold Water 356. 
Baptist Female Seminary, approved February 20, 1852. 



APPENDIX B 187 

Reference 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to reduce into 385-86. 
one the several acts heretofore passed in relation to six- 
teenth sections and common schools, so far as relates to 
the county of Hinds, approved March i, 1850. 
An act providing the manner in which teachers of com- 398. 
mon schools in the county of Copiah shall present their 
claims to school commissioners. 

An act to incorporate Friendship Academy in the county 310. 
of Panola. 

An act to authorize and empower the board of police of 349-50. 
Madison County to distribute the school fund. 
An act to repeal an act entitled, "an act to incorporate 313. 
the Columbia Academy in the county of Marion." 
An act for the benefit of Mississippi College. 469-70. 

An act to incorporate the St. Mary's Orphan Asylum, 356-57. 
a charitable and educational institution, in the city of 
Natchez. 

An act to amend the charter of Jefferson College. 406. 

An act further to amend the charter of Jefferson College. 389. 
An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to incorporate 208. 
the trustees of Zion Seminary," approved February 11, 
1846. 

An act to incorporate the Hill City Collegiate Institute. 207. 
An act to repeal an act providing for the application of 368. 
the common school fund in Marion County, approved 
March 3, 1848. 

An act to establish a system of common schools in the 416-18. 
county of Hancock. 

A resolution in relation to the superintendent of the blind 589-90. 
asylum. 

An act to amend the common school law, so far as the 361. 
same relates to the county of Pike. 

An act for the relief of Wilmarth Female College at 318. 
Natchez. 

An act to repeal all laws exempting school trustees in 407. 
the county of Claiborne from serving as jurors. 
An act to corporate the Red Banks Female Seminary, 253-54. 
and for other purposes. 

An act to incorporate the Central Mississippi Female 289-91. 
College, in the town of Lexington, Holmes County. 
An act to authorize the board of school commissioners of 456-57. 
the county of Lauderdale to sell the school lands in said 
county, and for other purposes. 



l88 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to promote com- 1 13-14. 

mon schools in the several counties of this state," approved 

March 9, 1850, so far as the same relates to the county of 

Neshoba. 

An act to amend an act to establish a system of common 433-34. 

schools in the counties of Newton and Clarke, approved 

March 10, 1852, so far as it relates to the county of 

Newton. 

An act to incorporate the Central Female Institute, at 238-39. 

Clinton, Hinds County. 

An act to incorporate the Byhalia Female Institute. 251-52. 

A resolution instructing the attorney general to demand 586. 

of the trustees of Jefferson College the sum of money 

lent said college by the state. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act for the benefit 195. 

of the state university," approved October 21, 1852. 

An act to create in the University of Mississippi a profes- 160. 

sorship of governmental science and law. 

An act to authorize the board of police of Scott County 458-60. 

to apportion the school fund among the police districts 

thereof, and for other purposes. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the Southern 257-58. 

Scientific Institute. 

An act amendatory of an act entitled, "an act to incor- 326-27. 

porate Maple Springs Academy in Tippah County," 

approved February 28, 1852. 

An act to legalize the lease of section 16, T. 12, R. 5, E., 352-53. 

in the county of Copiah, and for other purposes. 

An act to legalize the lease of section 16, T. 10, R. 21, W. 382. 

in Simpson County. 

An act to provide for the erection of suitable buildings 95-97. 

for the instruction of the deaf, dumb, and blind, and for 

other purposes. 

An act to authorize the institution for the blind to pur- 135. 

chase a lot adjoining said institute. 

An act to establish a system of common schools in the 474-75. 

county of Tishomingo, and for other purposes. 

An act to aid in the establishment of a school system in 527-32. 

Franklin County. 

An act to incorporate Octograde Seminary in Yalobusha 337-38. 

County. 

An act to amend the charter of Jefferson College. 361-62. 

An act to authorize the printing of the first annual report 148-50. 

of the agricultural and geological survey of the state. 



APPENDIX B 189 

Reference 

An act to incorporate Newton College. 457-58. 

An act to incorporate Westminster Academy in the 429-3°- 

county of Tippah. 

An act to prohibit the sale and distribution of vinous and 373. 

spirituous liquors within four miles of Zion Seminary. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the trustees of 569-70. 

T. 10, R. 2, E., in Madison and Yazoo counties, approved 

February 24, 1842. 

An act supplemental to an act to provide for the leasing 348-49. 

of the Chickasaw School Lands, approved February 23, 

1848. 

An act to authorize the legal voters of T. 6, R. 2, W., to 260-61. 

elect five trustees to take charge of the school fund 

belonging to said township. 

An act to incorporate the Union Seminary, in De Soto 428-29. 

County. 

An act to incorporate the Union Female College of the 371. 

Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Oxford. 

An act to incorporate the Coffeeville Female Institute. 206-7. 

An act to repeal an act to prescribe the mode of applying 570-74- 

the school funds of Tippah County, approved March 8, 

1850, and for other purposes. 

An act to amend the several laws in relation to common 552-53- 

schools, so far as relates to the county of Jones. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish a 324-25. 

common school system in the town of Shieldsborough," 

approved February 5, 1852. 

1856 
An act to amend an act to incorporate the Presbyterian 403-4- 
Female Collegiate Institute, of Pontotoc, approved Octo- 
ber 14, 1852. 

An act to incorporate the Okolona Female Institute. 388-89. 

An act in relation to the school fund of T. 13, R. 2, E. in 323. 
Claiborne County. 

An act to unite fractional T. 9, R. 2, W., and T. 8, R. 2, 374. 
W., in Adams County, into one school district. 
An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to amend an act 424. 
to incorporate the Hernando Academy," etc., approved 
January 23, 1852. 

An act to incorporate the State Female College of Missis- 383-84. 
sippi. 

An act to incorporate the Eastport Female Institute, 210-11. 
county of Tishomingo. 



I90 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to incorporate Calhoun Institute. 169. 

An act to incorporate Byhalia Male Academy, Marshall 219-20. 

County. 

An act to amend the common school laws so far as the 128-29. 

same relate to Itawamba County. 

An act to legalize the acts of the board of trustees of the 358-59. 

Sixteenth Section Fund of T. 13, R. 3, E. of Holmes 

County. 

An act to repeal an act in reference to common schools in 367. 

T. 6, R. 2, W., in the county of Hinds, approved March 2, 

1854. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate Newton College, 346-47. 

approved March i, 1854. 

An act to incorporate the Okolona Academy. 402. 

An act to prescribe the mode of applying the school fund 360. 

of Panola County. 

An act to incorporate the Mississippi Masonic Female 355-56. 

College in the county of Claiborne. 

An act to amend an act incorporating the Yalobusha 420. 

Baptist Female Institute. 

An act to incorporate the Amite Female Seminary in 317-18. 

the town of Liberty. 

An act to amend the several laws in relation to common 325-28. 

schools and school lands so far as the same relate to the 

county of Franklin. 

An act to amend the common school law so far as the 406. 

same relates to the county of Pike, approved February 25, 

1854. 

An act to legalize the sales of the sixteenth sections and 430-31. 

parts of sections in Lauderdale County made in the year 

1854. 

An act for the relief of the state university. 76. 

An act to provide for the payment of interest on the 141-48. 

Chickasaw School Fund, and for other purposes. 

An act to incorporate Canaan Male and Female Academy, 403. 

in the county of Tippah. 

An act to amend the charter of Mississippi College. 209. 

An act to change the time of electing trustees in Claiborne 93. 

County. 

An act to repeal an act to incorporate the Grenada Male 174-76. 

and Female academies. 

An act to incorporate the Oak Bowery Academy. 171. 

An act to amend the laws now in force in relation to the 223-24. 

entry and sale of the Chickasaw school and state lands. 



APPENDIX B 191 

Reference 

An act entitled, "an act to amend the school laws so far 379-80. 

as the same relate to the county of Marion." 

An act to establish a system of common schools in the 109-15. 

county of Simpson. 

An act to secure the interest on the school funds belong- 81-86. 

ing to the counties embraced in the Chickasaw cession, 

and for other purposes. 

An act for the benefit of the blind. (For Blind Institute.) 343. 

1856-57 — 'Adjourned Session 

An act supplemental to an act to provide for the pay- 100. 

ment of interest on the Chickasaw School Funds, approved 

March 7, 1856. 

An act to amend the laws in relation to the University of 109-10. 

Mississippi. 

An act to establish an institution for the instruction of 1 16-18. 

the blind. 

An act to establish an institution for the deaf and dumb. 1 14-16. 

1857 
An act to revive certain laws in Leake County concern- 129-30. 
ing common schools, and for other purposes. 

An act to distribute Harper's Report on the Geology of 142-43- 
Mississippi. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to reduce into 141. 
one the several acts heretofore passed in relation to six- 
teenth sections and commons schools, so far as they relate 
to Hinds County, approved March i, 1850. 

An act in relation to the school funds of the county of 150-52. 
Neshoba. 

An act legalizing the sale of the sixteenth section of 130. 
T. 19, R. I, W. Sunflower County. 

An act for the annual support of the Institute for the 40-41. 
Deaf and Dumb. 

An act for the support of the Asylum for the Blind for 42. 
the years 1858 and 1859. 

An act to estabHsh a State Agricultural Bureau, together 44-51. 
with county agricultural societies subordinate thereto, and 
for the promotion of agricultural and mechanical science. 
An act to legalize the leases of the sixteenth section in 163. 
T. IS, R. 7, E. in Attala County. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the Fayette 88-90. 
Female Academy in Jefferson County. 
An act to amend the school laws of Marion County. 115-19- 



192 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to authorize the citizens of fractional townships 159. 

in the count of Oktibbeha to organize a board of school 

trustees. 

An act to authorize the board of school commissioners 131. 

of De Soto County to pay certain claims for the tuition of 

destitute children. 

An act to provide for the printing of the second annual 1 13-14. 

report of the agricultural and geological survey of the 

state, and for other purposes. 

An act for the relief and support of the poor (apprentices) 



An act to appropriate fines, etc., to common schools. 

1858 
An act to amend the school laws in the county of Tisho- 
mingo. 

An act for the benefit of Semple Broaddus College, or 
University, of De Soto County. 

An act to incorporate the Historical Society of Mississippi. 
An act for the relief of Jefferson College. 
An act to revive an act to amend the several school laws 
of this state in relation to common schools, so far as relates 
to Chickasaw County, approved February 16, 1850. 
An act to exempt from tax the Summerville Institute 
and Female Seminary located at Summerville, Noxubee 
County. 

An act to amend the several acts in relation to the com- 
pensation of the commissioners of common schools of 
Copiah County. 

An act to amend an act, approved November ig, 1857, 
entitled, "an act to amend the school laws of Harrison 
(Marion) County." 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to secure the 
interest on the school funds belonging to the counties 
embraced in the Chickasaw cession," approved March 12, 
1856. 

An act to provide for and establish common schools in 
the county of Smith. 

An act concerning the school fund of T. 17, R. 16, E. in 
the county of Lowndes. 

An act to amend an act to secure the interest on the 
school fund belonging to the counties in the Chickasaw 
cession, and for other purposes. 



Revised Code, 

(1857), 
213-14. 
Ibid., 
290-92. 



177. 



161-62. 

170. 

193- 



149. 



133- 



77-82. 



APPENDIX B 193 

Reference 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to receive the 181-82. 

interest on the school funds belonging to the counties 

embraced in the Chickasaw cession, so far as it relates to 

the county of Pontotoc and other counties therein named. 

An act to change the name of the Mississippi Masonic 141-42. 

Female College. 

A joint resolution relating to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum 230. 

An act to establish a system of common schools in Copiah 94-99- 

County. 

An act to regulate common schools in the counties of 184-85. 

Perry and Greene. 

An act to be entitled, " an act to provide for the payment 192-93- 

of the tuition of the destitute and orphan children in the 

county of Panola." 

An act to appropriate all fines, etc., arising in the town 216. 

of Woodville to the public school of the corporation of 

the said town. 

An act to authorize the board of police of the county of 216-17. 

Wilkinson to levy an additional school tax to make up 

the defalcation of the late sherifT of said county on account 

of public school fund, etc. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish a 226. 

system of common schools in the county of Simpson." 

An act entitled, " an act to confirm the sale of the sixteenth 212. 

section of T. 18, R. 4, W. in the county of Simpson." 

An act in reference to the Chickasaw School Fund. 144- 

An act to amend the charter of the Port Gibson Academy. 121-22. 

An act to prohibit the sale of vinous and spirituous 186. 

liquors in the vicinity of Jefferson College. 

A resolution that ten copies of the Revised Code and the 227. 

same number of state reports be furnished the library of 

the university. 

Resolution appointing a commissioner to investigate the 231-32. 

Seminary Fund. 

An act in relation to the Blind Asylum. 192- 

1859-60 
An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to establish a 41-42. 
system of common schools in the county of Simpson, so 
far as said act extends to Covington County." 
An act to amend the school laws of Franklin County. 46-47- 

An act to amend the school laws of Itawamba County. 47- 
An act to amend an act approved March 11, 1856, entitled, 85. 
"an act to repeal an act to incorporate the Grenada Male 
and Female academies." 



194 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to regulate the 76. 

common schools in the counties of Perry and Greene." 

An act to authorize the school commissioner of De Soto 79. 

County to apply the surplus common school funds 

belonging to said county to the education of the next 

most needy class. 

An act for the relief of the purchasers of the sixteenth 70. 

sections in the county of Greene, and for other purposes. 

An act to amend the school laws of Leake County. 79. 

An act to amend an act to secure the interest on the 87-88. 

school fund belonging to the counties embraced in the 

Chickasaw cession, so far as same relates to the county 

of Calhoun. 

An act to repeal the common school law of Copiah 72-73. 

County, approved December 3, 1858, and for other purposes- 

An act further to regulate the qualifications of trustees 112. 

of schools in the county of Carroll. 

An act to amend the laws in relation to common schools 147-48. 

so far as they relate to Wilkinson County. 

An act to amend an act to secure the interest on the 134. 

school fund belonging to the Chickasaw cession, so far 

as the same relates to the county of Tishomingo. 

An act to authorize the trustees of T. 1 1 , R. i , E. , in Yazoo 1 54. 

County, to distribute the school funds thereof. 

An act to provide for and establish common schools in 167-71. 

the county of Choctaw. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to provide for 239. 

common schools in the counties of Hinds, Holmes," etc., 

approved March 4, 1848, so far as the same relates to 

the county of Amite. 

An act to amend an act entitled, "an act to amend the 299. 

school laws of Marion County," approved November 19, 

1857- 

An act for the relief of J. F. Wright, assignee of school 311. 

lands in T. 23, R. 8, W. in Bolivar County. 

An act for the benefit of T. 5, R. i, E. in Rankin County. 321. 

An act to amend an act to incorporate the Male and 278-80. 

Female academies of Houston, passed January 24, 1844. 

An act to amend the common school laws of Pike County. 336-39. 

An act to authorize the lease of a portion of the section of 178. 

land on which the University of Mississippi is located. 

An act to incorporate the Vernal Male and Female 197-98. 

Academy in Greene County. 



APPENDIX B 

An act for the benefit of schools in T. 5, R. 3, E., county 
of Rankin. 

An act to provide for the support of the institution for 
the instruction of the deaf and dumb. 
An act for the benefit of Franklin Academy in the town 
of Columbus. 

An act for the benefit of the Fayette Female Academy. 
An act to incorporate the trustees of the Yazoo Educa- 
tional Association. 

An act for the relief of the purchasers of the sixteenth 
sections in Jasper and Franklin counties. 
An act to prohibit the sale and the gratuitous distribu- 
tion of vinous, spirituous, and fermenting liquors within 
four miles of Westville Seminary, and for other purposes. 
An act to incorporate Wilson Hall in Marshall County. 
An act to incorporate the Aberdeen Masonic Male High 
School. 

An act to incorporate the Amite County Female Academy. 
An act to incorporate the Willard Male and Female 
academies at Flewellen's Cross Roads, in De Soto County. 
An act to incorporate the Masonic Female Seminary in 
the county of Marshall. 

An act to prevent the sale of vinous or spirituous liquors 
within three miles of Slate Springs Academy, in Calhoun 
County. 

An act to regulate common schools and school funds in 
the county of Wayne. 

An act to aid indigent children in the counties of Oktib- 
beha, Clarke, and Jasper, in procuring an education, and 
for other purposes. 

An act to establish common schools in the county of 
Noxubee. 

An act to ratify and render valid sales of land in section 16, 
T. 2, R. 14, E. in the county of Clarke. 
An act to legalize the leases of certain sixteenth section 
lands in Kemper County. 

An act in relation to schools and school lands, in T. 17, 
R. 5, E. in Warren County. 

An act to extend the provisions of an act for the relief of 
the State University, approved March 6, 1856, for two 
years after the sixth of March next, and for other purposes. 
An act to further amend the laws in relation to the sale of 
vinous and spirituous hquors within the prescribed limits 
of the University of Mississippi. 



195 



Reference 
312. 

531-33- 
300-31. 

283-84. 
470-71. 

453-54- 
555-59- 

264-65. 
403-4- 

409-10. 
417-18. 

438- 

471. 

456-57- 



SSI-54- 

223. 

223-24. 

365-66. 

238-39- 

320-21. 



196 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Reference 

A resolution in relation to the Seminary Fund. 391-93. 

An act to incorporate the Brandon State (Military) 355-56. 

Institute. 

An act to amend an act to reduce into one the several 379-80. 

acts heretofore passed, in relation to sixteenth sections 

and common schools, so far as same relates to Hinds 

County. 

An act to more fully secure the school fund of Calhoun 507-8. 

County. 

An act to establish a system of common schools in the 521-31. 

county of Coahoma, and for other purposes. (Also 

Sunflower.) 

An act to amend an act to provide for the payment of 193. 

interest on the Chickasaw School Fund, and for other 

purposes. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 
1. PRIMARY SOURCES 

Census of the United States, The Seventh: 1850. Embracing a statistical view 
of each of the states and territories, arranged by counties, towns, etc. 
Compiled by J. D. B. DeBow. Washington: Robert Armstrong, 1853. 

Census oj the United Stales, The Eighth: i860. Volumes on "Population" 
and "Mortality and Miscellaneous Statistics." Compiled by Joseph 
C. G. Kennedy. Washington: Government Printing Oflke, 1864 and 
1865. 

Constitutions of the State of Mississippi, 1817 and 1833. In Volume IV 

of The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other 

Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies. Compiled and 

edited by Francis N. Thorpe. Washington: Government Printing 

Office, 1909. 

House Journals of Mississippi, 181 1, 1817-18, 1821-29, 1831-36, 1840-48, 
1854-60. 

Laws of Mississippi, 1 802-1 860. 

1. Mississippi Territory. 

Manuscript Laws of Mississippi Territory: 1802, 1803, 1804, 1806, 
1807 (First Session), 181 1, 1814, 1816. In Mississippi Archives, Series D. 

Printed Session Laws, contemporary editions: 1807 (December), 1809 
(February), 1809 (November), 181 5. 

Statutes of the Mississippi Territory. Digested by authority of the 
general assembly. Natchez: Peter Isler, printer to the territory, 1816. 

2, State of Mississippi: 

Laws of the State of Mississippi. Embracing all acts of a public nature 
from January session, 1824, to January session, 1838, inclusive. Published 
by authority. Jackson, Mississippi, 1838. 

Manuscript Laws: 1817-18, 1833 (January-February). Mississippi 
Archives, Series I, Nos. i and 20. 

Printed Session Laws, contemporary editions: 1819, 1820, 1821 
(January), 1821 (November). 1822, 1822-23, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1828, 
1829, 1830 (January February), 1830 (November), 1831, 1833 (November), 
1836, 1837, 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1846. 1848, 1850 
(January-February), 1850 (November), 1852 (January-February), 1852 
(November), 1854, 1856, 1856-57, 1857 (November), 1858, 1859-60. 
The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi. Compiled by 
Dunbar Rowland, director of the Department of Archives and History. 
Nashville, Tennessee: Brandon Printing Co., 1908. 

197 



198 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 179S-lS(iO 

The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi. Compiled by 

Dunbar Rowland, director of the Department of Archives and History. 

Madison, Wisconsin: Democrat Printing Co., 1917. 
'Mississippi Territorial Archives, I. Compiled by Dunbar Rowland. Nash- 
ville, Tennessee: Brandon Printing Co., 1905. 
Newspaper Files: 

Mississippi Messenger, Natchez, 1806-8. 

The Mississippian, Jackson, 1835-42. 

The Natchez Daily Courier, 1837-38, 1840, 1842, 1852-60. 

The Natchez Weekly Courier and Journal, 1837-43, 1846-48. 

The Natchez Gazette, 1825-27. 

The Port Gibson Correspondent, Port Gibson, 1824-25, 1835-42. 

The Southern Galaxy, Natchez, 1828-30. 

The State Gazette, Natchez, i Si 8-2 5. 

The Statesman and Gazette, Natchez, 1818-23. 

The Washington Republican, Washington, 1813-23. 

The Weekly Chronicle, Natchez, 1808-10. 
Record of Incorporations, 1857-83. The original manuscript record of 

charters granted by the governor of Mississippi. In the office of the 

secretary of state, Jackson, Mississippi. 
Revised Code of the Statute Laws of the State of Mississippi. Published by 

authority of the legislature. Jackson, Mississippi: E. Barksdale, state 

printer, 1857. 
Senate Journals of Mississippi, 1822, 1823, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1828, 1829, 

1830, 1838, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1846, 1850, 1852, 1854, 1856, 

1858, 1860-61. 
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America from the Organization 

of the Government in ijSg to March j, 1845, I-VI, IX-XI. Edited by 

Richard Peters. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1856. 

II. SECONDARY SOURCES 
Baldwin, J. G. The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi. New York: 

D. Appleton & Co., 1853. 
Barnard, Henry. The American Journal of Education, I. New York: N. A. 

Calkins, 1856. 
Blackmar, F. W. "The History of Federal and State Aid to Higher Education 

in the United States," United States Bureau of Education, Circular 

of Information, No. i. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1890. 
Blandin, I. M. E. History of Higher Education of Women in the South Prior 

to i860. New York and Washington: Neale Publishing Co., 1909. 
Brandon, G. C. "Historic Adams County," Publications of the Mississippi 

Historical Society, II, 207-18, Oxford, Mississippi, 1899. 
Brough, C. H. "Historic Clinton," Publications of the Mississippi Historical 

Society, VII, 281-312. Oxford, Mississippi, 1903. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 199 

Brough, C. II. "History of Banking in Mississippi," Publicaiions of the 

Mississippi Historical Society, III, 317-40. Oxford, Mississippi, 1900. 
Carlton, F. T. "Economic Influences on Educational Progress in the United 

States, 1820-1850," University of Wisconsin Economics and Political 

Science Series, IV, No. i. Madison, Wisconsin: 1908. 
Claiborne, J. F. H. Mississippi as a Province, Territory, and State, I. Jackson, 

Mississippi: Power & Barksdale, 1880. 
Cluskey, M. W. Speeches, Messages, and Other Writings of the Hon. A. G. 

Brown. Philadelphia: Jas. B. Smith & Co., 1859. 
Galloway, C. B. "Elizabeth Female Academy — The Mother of Female 

Colleges," Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, II, 169-78. 

Oxford, Mississippi, 1899. 
Hall, J. "A Brief History of the Mississippi Territory," Publications of the 

Mississippi Historical Society, IX, 539-75. Oxford, Mississippi, 1906. 
Hamilton, P. J. "British West Florida," Publications of the Mississippi 

Historical Society, VII, 399-426. Oxford, Mississippi, 1903. 
Hutchinson, A. Code of Mississippi: Being an Analytical Compilation of the 

Public and General Acts of the Territory and State with Tabidar References 

to the Local and Private Acts from ijSg to 184.8. Jackson, Mississippi: 

Price & Fall, state printers, 1848. 
Leavell, Z. T., and Bailey, T. J. A Complete History of Mississippi Baptists 

from, the Earliest Times, I and II. Jackson, Mississippi: Mississippi 

Baptist Publishing Co., 1904. 
Lowry and McCardle, A History of Mississippi from the Discovery of the Great 

River by Hernando De Soto to the Death of Jefferson Davis, 1 541-1889. 

Jackson, Mississippi: R. H. Henry & Co., 1891. 
Mayes, E. "History of Education in Mississippi," United States Bureau of 

Education, Circular of Information, No. 2. Washington: Government 

Printing Office, 1899. 
Mayo, A. D. "The American Common School in the Southern States during 

the First Half of the Republic. 1 790-1840." Report of the United States 

Commissioner of Education, i8g5~g6, pp. 267-331. Washington: Govern- 
ment Printing Office, 1897. 
Monette, J. W. History of the Mississippi Valley, I and II. New York: 

Harper & Brothers, 1846. 
Morrison, J. K. "Early History of Jefferson College," Publications of the 

Mississippi Historical Society, II, 179-8S. Oxford, Mississippi, 1899. 
Poindexter, Geo. Revised Code of Mississippi. Natchez, Mississippi : Francis 

Baker, 1824. 
Riley, F. L. School History of Mississippi. Richmond, Virginia : B . F. Johnson 

Publishing Co., 1900. 
. "Sir William Dunbar, the Pioneer Scientist of Mississippi," Publica- 
tions of the Mississippi Historical Society, II, 85-1 1 2. Oxford, Mississippi, 

1899. 



200 EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION IN MISSISSIPPI, 1798-1860 

Rowland, D. Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, I and II. Madison, 
Wisconsin: S. A. Brant, 1907. 

— . "Plantation Life in Mississippi before the War," Publications of the 

Mississippi Historical Society, III, 85-97. Oxford, Mississippi, 1900. 

Swift, F. H. A History of Public Permanent Common School Funds in the 
United States. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1911. 

Timberlake, E. "Did the Reconstruction Give Mississippi Her Public 
Schools?" Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, XII, 72-93. 
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Wilkins, J. M. "Early Times in Wayne County," Publications of the Missis- 
sippi Historical Society, VI, 265-72. Oxford, Mississippi, 1902. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Academies, 15-16, 21-23, 62-78; location 
of territorial, 23; status in 1850, 77-78; 
support of, 63-64, 123-26 

Administration of common schools, 109- 
14 

Apprenticeship, 16, 95 

Appropriations: Blind Institute, 101-2; 
common schools, 60, 122-23; deaf and 
dumb institution, 103-4; orphan asy- 
lum, 96; University of Mississippi, 
127-28 

Blind, Education of, 16, 100-103 
Brown, Governor, Messages of, 41-42, 
81-82, 100 

Charters, colleges and secondary schools, 
15-16, 18-23, 62-74, 91-93 

Chickasaw counties, 56-57 

Chickasaw fund, 57, 117 

Chickasaw lands, 57, 115, 116 

Claiborne, Governor, Message of, 17-18, 
24 

Colleges. See Higher Education, Jeffer- 
son, Mississippi College, and Missis- 
sippi State Female College 

Common School Act of 1846, 42-46 

Common school funds, 49-53, 118-22. 
Sec also, Chickasaw fund, Literary fund 
and Sixteenth section funds 

Common schools, 13-15, 39-40, 41-61; 
special acts on, 46-49 

Constitutional provision on education, 26 

Copiah county. Special school acts for, 
47-49 

County judges. Schools controlled by, 
26-27 

County school funds, 50-53, 118-22 
Curriculum: common schools, 39, 53-54; 
academies, 76-77 

Deaf and Dumb, Institution for, 16, 

103-4 
Defectives, Education ol, 16, 100-104 
Democratic ideals, 9, 56 



Educational ideals, 7 
Educational societies, 95, 107-8 
Elementary education, 13-15, 23-25, 
26-61, 109-14, 116-23 

Federal land grants, 19-20, 25, 79-80, 
115-16 

Female education, 74-76, 90-91, 92-93 

Fines appropriated for educational pur- 
poses, 14, 27, 42, 63, 119-20, 125 

Franklin Academy (Jefiferson County), 21 

Franklin Academy (Lowndes County), 
57-58 

Franklin Society, 21 

Fraternal organizations. Schools of, 93 

French in Mississippi, i 

Greene Academy, 22 

High schools, 65, 69-70 

Higher education, 12, 16, 17-20, 79-94; 

support of, 126-28 
Homogeneity of population, 6-7 

Institutes, 65-66, 68-70, 76 

Jefferson College, 18-20, 82-85, "6 

Law, Department of, 85, 98-99, 127-28 
Libraries, 105-7 
Library societies, 106-7 
Library, state, 105-6 

License fees, appropriated for schools, 14, 
42-43, 119-20, 125 

Literary Fund, 14, 27-29, 37-38,40, 109, 
117 

Lotteries, 19, 22, 86, 123-24, 126 

Madison Academy (Claiborne County), 
21-22 

Mann, Horace, 15 

Manual labor school, 97 

Medicine, Department of, 85, 98 

Military training, 83, 84, 99-100 



203 



204 



INDEX 



Mississippi College, 86-88 

Mississippi State Female College, go-gi 

Municipal school laws, 57-59 

Normal school, 87-88, 99 

Occupations of the people, 7-8 
Orphan asylum, 95-97 
Orphans, Educational provisions for, 16, 
52-53, 95-97 

Planter's Bank, S3, 37-38, 80, 81 
Poindexter, Governor, Message of, 27 
Poor children, Education of, 28, 52-53, 

95-97 
Population: homogeneity, 6-7; occupa- 
tions of, 7-8; sparseness of, 3-6 
Prosperity, 11, 62, 64 

Religious denominations, 74, 93 

School Commissioner, General, 42, 43, 99, 
no 

School Commissioners, County, 28, 42-43, 
109, 111-12 

School lands, 25, 29-33. See also Chicka- 
saw lands, Federal land grants. Sem- 
inary lands, and Sixteenth sections 

School status, i860, 60-61 

School system, 41-56; dissolution of, 
46-49 

Scott, Governor, Message of, 41 

Secondary education, 15-16, 21-23, 
62-78; support of, 63, 123-26 



Secretary of State as school commissioner, 

42-43 
Seminaries, 65, 66, 76 
Seminary Fund, 80-82 
Seminary lands, 79-80 
Sixteenth section funds, 30-35, 117; use 

of, for secondary schools, 126 
Sixteenth sections, 13, 25, 26, 28, 29-36 
Spanish in Mississippi, i, 2 
Sparseness of population, 3-6 
Special classes. Education for, 16, 95-104 
State aid for education, 116-28 
State influence on higher education, 94 
Supervision of schools, 28, 43, 109-14 
Supplementary educational agencies, 

105-8 

Taxation: Exemption from, 124, 126; 

for academies, 125-26; for common 

schools, 119-22 
Teachers, Examination and certification, 

28,43, 53, 1 13-14 
Township trustees, 29, 50-51, 109-12 
Townships, Special legislation for, 54-55 

University of Mississippi, 88-90, 98, 

127-28 

Vocational education, 97-99 

Washington Academy, 22 
West Florida, British, 1-2 



H154 74 



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